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A  BOOK   OF   DARTMOOR 


BY  THE   SAME  AUTHOR 

LIFE  OF   NAPOLEON   BONAPARTE 

THE  TRAGEDY  OF   THE   C^.SARS 

THE   DESERT   OF   SOUTHERN   FRANCE 

STRANGE  SURVIVALS 

SONGS  OF  THE   WEST 

A  GARLAND   OF   COUNTRY   SONG 

OLD   COUNTRY   LIFE 

YORKSHIRE  ODDITIES 

FREAKS  OF    FANATICISM 

A  BOOK  OF   FAIRY  TALES 

OLD   ENGLISH   FAIRY  TALES 

A   BOOK   OF   NURSERY   SONGS 

AN   OLD   ENGLISH    HOME 

THE  VICAR  OF   MORWENSTOW 

THE  CROCK  OF   GOLD 

A   BOOK   OF  THE   WEST 
I.    DEVON 
II.    CORNWALL 


C  9 


A 

BOOK  OF  DARTMOOR 

BY   S.   BARING-GOULD 


WITH   SIXTY    ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW  YORK:   NEW  AMSTERDAM  BOOK  CO. 

LONDON  :    METHUEN  &  CO. 

1900 


TO   THE   MEMORY   OF 
MY   UNCLE 

THE  LATE 

THOMAS   GEORGE   BOND 

ONE    OF    THE    PIONEERS    OF 
DARTMOOR  EXPLORATION 


ivii63832 


PREFACE 

AT  the  request  of  my  publishers  I  have  written 
^  ^  A  Book  of  Dartmoor.  I  had  already  dealt 
with  this  upland  district  in  two  chapters  in  my 
Book  of  the  West,  vol.  i.,  "  Devon."  But  in  their 
opinion  this  wild  and  wondrous  region  deserved 
more  particular  treatment  than  I  had  been  able  to 
accord  to  it  in  the  limited  space  at  my  disposal  in 
the  above-mentioned  book. 

I  have  now  entered  with  some  fulness,  but  by  no 
means  exhaustively,  into  the  subject ;  and  for  those 
who  desire  a  closer  acquaintance  with,  and  a  more 
precise  guide  to  the  several  points  of  interest  on 
"the  moor,"  I  would  indicate  three  works  that  have 
preceded  this. 

I.  Mr.  J.  Brooking  Rowe  in  1896  republished  the 
Perambulation  of  Dartmoor,  first  issued  by  his  great- 
uncle,  Mr.  Samuel  Rowe,  in  1848. 

The  original  work  was  written  by  a  man  whose 
mind  was  steeped  in  the  crude  archaeological  theories 
of  his  period.     The  new  editor  could  not  dispense 


X  PREFACE 

with  this  matter,  which  pervaded  the  work,  without  a 
complete  recasting  of  the  book,  and  this  he  was  re- 
luctant to  attempt.  He  limited  himself  to  cautioning 
the  reader  to  put  no  trust  in  these  exploded  theories. 
The  result  is  that  the  reader  is  tripping  over  un- 
certain ground,  never  knowing  what  is  to  be  accepted 
and  what  rejected. 

2.  Mr.  J.  H.  W.  Page's  Exploration  of  Dartmoor^ 
1889,  is  admirable  as  a  guide.  The  author,  however, 
was  unhappily  ignorant  of  prehistoric  archaeology, 
and  allowed  himself  to  be  led  astray  by  the  false 
antiquarianism  that  had  marked  the  early  writers. 
Consequently,  his  book  is  capital  as  a  guide  to  what 
is  to  be  seen,  but  eminently  unreliable  in  its  explana- 
tion of  the  character  and  age  of  the  antiquities. 

3.  A  capital  book  is  Mr.  W.  Crossing's  Amid 
Devonids  Alps,  1888,  which  is  wholly  free  from 
pseudo- antiquarianism.  It  is  brief,  it  is  small  and 
cheap,  and  an  admirable  handbook  for  pedestrians. 

In  no  way  do  I  desire  to  supersede  these  works. 
I  have  taken  pains  rather  to  supplement  them  than 
to  step  into  the  places  occupied  by  their  writers. 

The  plan  I  have  adopted  in  this  gossiping  volume 
is  to  give  a  general  idea  of  the  moor  and  of  its 
antiquities— the  latter  as  interpreted  by  up-to-date 
archaeologists — and   then  to  suggest  rambles  made 


PREFACE  xi 

from  certain  stations  on  the  fringe,  or  in  the  heart  of 
the  region. 

Here  and  there  it  has  been  inevitable  that  I  should 
twice  mention  the  same  object  of  interest,  once  in 
the  introductory  portion,  and  again  when  I  have  to 
refer  to  it  as  coming  within  the  radius  of  a  proposed 
ramble. 

As  a  boy  I  had  an  uncle,  T.  G.  Bond,  who  lived 
near  Moreton  Hampstead,  and  who  was  passionately 
devoted  to  Dartmoor.  He  inspired  me  with  the 
same  love.  In  1848  he  presented  me,  as  a  birthday 
present,  with  Rowe's  Perambulation  of  Dartmoor. 
It  arrested  my  attention,  engaged  my  imagination, 
and  was  to  me  almost  as  a  Bible.  When  I  obtained 
a  holiday  from  my  books,  I  mounted  my  pony  and 
made  for  the  moor.  I  rode  over  it,  round  it,  put  up 
at  little  inns,  talked  with  the  moormen,  listened  to 
their  tales  and  songs  in  the  evenings,  and  during  the 
day  sketched  and  planned  the  relics  that  I  then 
fondly  supposed  were  Druidical. 

The  child  is  father  to  the  man.  Years  have  rolled 
away.  I  have  wandered  over  Europe,  have  rambled 
to  Iceland,  climbed  the  Alps,  been  for  some  years 
lodged  among  the  marshes  of  Essex — yet  nothing 
that  I  have  seen  has  quenched  in  me  the  longing 
after  the  fresh  air,  and  love  of  the  wild  scenery  of 


xli  PREFACE 

Dartmoor.  There  is  far  finer  mountain  scener}^  else- 
where, but  there  can  be  no  more  bracing  air,  and  the 
lone  upland  region  possesses  a  something  of  its  own 
— a  charm  hard  to  describe,  but  very  real — which 
engages  for  once  and  for  ever  the  affections  of  those 
who  have  made  its  acquaintance.  "  After  all  said," 
observed  my  uncle  to  me  one  day,  when  my  father 
had  dilated  on  the  glories  of  the  Pyrenees,  "  Dart- 
moor is  to  itself,  and  to  me — a  passion."  And  to  his 
memory  I  dedicate  this  volume. 

My  grateful  thanks  are  due  to  Messrs.  R.  Burnard, 
P.  R  S.  Amery,  J.  Shortridge,  and  C.  E.  Robinson 
for  permission  to  employ  photographs  taken  by 
them. 

S.  BARING-GOULD 

Lew  Trenchard,  Devon 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

PAGE 

I. 

Bogs    .              .              .              .           .       .        i 

II. 

Tors   . 

14 

III. 

The  Ancient  Inhabitants 

.            29 

IV. 

The  Antiquities 

•            52 

V. 

The  Freaks     . 

74 

VI. 

Dead  Men's  Dust 

82 

VII. 

The  Camps 

97 

VIII. 

Tin-streaming 

108 

IX. 

Lydford 

124 

X. 

Belstone 

144 

XI. 

Chagford 

157 

XII. 

Manaton 

171 

XIII. 

Holne  . 

193 

XIV. 

IVYBRIDGE 

209 

XV. 

Yelverton 

220 

XVI. 

Post  Bridge     . 

241 

XVII. 

Princetown 

259 

ILLUSTRATIONS 


FULL-PAGE 
Yes  Tor      .... 

From  a  drawing  by  E.  A.  Tozer,  Esq. 

A  Tor,  showing  Granite  Weathering 

From  a  photograph  by  J.  Shortridge,  Esq. 

Vixen  Tor 

From  a  photograph  by  J.  Shortridge,  Esq.     ' 

Rocks  by  Hey  Tor  . 

From  a  photograph  by  J.  Amery,  Esq. 

The  Pedigree  of  a  Tomb     . 

From  a  drawing  by  S.  Baring-Gould. 

Stone  Rows,  Drizzlecombe  . 

From  a  drawing  by  S.  Baring-Gould. 

The  Pedigree  of  a  Headstone 

From  a  drawing  by  S.  Baring-Gould. 

Bowerman's  Nose    . 

From  a  drawing  by  A.  B.  Collier,  Esq. 

Whit  Tor  Camp 

Planned  by  Rev.  J.  K.  Anderson,  drawn  by  S.  Baring-Gould 

Brent  Tor 

From  a  drawing  by  E.  A.  Tozer,  Esq. 

Blowing-house  under  Black  Tor 

From  a  drawing  by  A.  B.  Collier,  Esq. 

On  the  Lyd 

From  a  drawing  by  E.  A.  Tozer,  Esq. 

Hare  Tor  .... 

From  a  drawing  by  E.  A.  Tozer,  Esq. 

North  Wyke  Gate  House    . 

From  a  drawing  by  Mrs.  C.  L.  Weekes. 

Grimspound 

From  a  photograph  by  C.  E.  Robinson,  Esq. 


Frontispiece 


Tofa< 


■e  page  14 
18 
24 

56 
60 

64 
74 
97 
102 
108 
124 
141 
152 
16S 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


XV 


Near  Manaton       ....   To  face  page  171 

From  a  drawing  by  A.  B.  Collier,  Esq. 

Hound  Tor  .  .  .  .  ,,  i75 

From  a  drawing  by  E.  A.  Tozer,  Esq. 

Hey  Tor  Rocks     .  .  .  .  ,,  176 

From  a  drawing  by  E.  A.  Tozer,  Esq. 

Lower  Tar  .  .  .  .  ,,  190 

From  a  photograph  by  J.  Amery,  Esq. 

The  Cleft  Rock    .  .  .  .  ,,  196 

From  a  photograph  by  J.  Amery,  Esq. 

Yar  Tor  .  .  .  .  •  „  199 

From  a  drawing  by  E.  A.  Tozer,  Esq. 

The  Dewerstone   .  .  .  ...  220 

From  a  drawing  by  E.  A.  Tozer,  Esq. 

Sheeps  Tor 

From  a  drawing  by  A.  B.  Collier,  Esq. 

Portion  of  Screen,  Sheeps  Tor 

Drawn  by  F.  Bligh  Bond,  Esq. 

On  the  Meavy 

Drawn  by  A.  B.  Collier,  Esq. 

Lake-head  Kistvaen 

From  a  photograph  by  R.  Bumard,  Esq. 

Staple  Tor 

From  a  photograph  by  J.  Shortridge,  Esq. 

Blowing-house  on  the  Meavy 

Drawn  by  A.  B.  Collier,  Esq. 

IN  THE  TP:XT 
Flint  Arrow-heads 
Flint  Scrapers 
A  Cooking -POT 
Flint  Scrapers 
Fragment  of  Cooking-pot 
Cross,  Whitchurch  Down 
Plan  of  Hut,  Shapley  Common 
Hut  Circle,  Grimspound    . 
Logan  Rock.    The  Rugglestone,  Widdecomee 


225 
228 
231 
244 
269 
270 


PAGE 

37 
45 
46 
49 
SO 
65 
67 
69 

n 


XVI 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Roos  Tor  Logans  . 

Covered  Chamber,  Whit  Tor 

Construction  of  Stone  and  Timber  Wall 

Tin-workings,  Nillacombe 

Mortar-stone,  Okeford 

Slag-pounding  Hollows,  Gobbetts  . 

Smelting  in  1556  . 

Plan  of  Blowing-house,  Deep  Swincombe 

Tin-mould,  Deep  Swincombe 

Smelting  Tin  in  Japan 

A  Primitive  Hinge 

Inscription  on  Sourton  Cross 

Inscribed  Stone,  Sticklepath 

Plan  of  Stone  Rows  near  Caistor  Rock 

,,      ,,    Grimspound 

,,      ,,   Hut  at  Grimspound 
Fragment  of  Pottery 
Ornamented  Pottery 
Tom  Pearce's  Ghostly  Mare 
Crazing-mill  Stone,  Upper  Gobbetts 
Method  of  using  the  Mill-stones  . 
Chancel  Capital,  Meavy   . 
Blowing -house  below  Black  Tor    . 


PAGE 

79 
100 

lOI 

109 
III 
"3 
114 
115 
117 
119 

133 

142 

150 
161 
166 
169 
177 
179 
191 
204 
205 
237 
271 


DARTMOOR 


CHAPTER    I. 
BOGS 

The  rivers  that  flow  from  Dartmoor— The  bogs  are  their  cradles— A 
tailor  lost  on  the  moor — A  man  in  Aune  Mire — Some  of  the  worst 
bogs— Cranmere  Pool — How  the  bogs  are  formed — Adventure  in 
Redmoor  Bog — Bog  plants — The  buckbean — Sweet  gale — Furze — 
Yellow  broom — Bee-keeping. 

DARTMOOR  proper  consists  of  that  upland 
region  of  granite,  rising  to  nearly  2,000  feet 
above  the  sea,  and  actually  shooting  above  that 
height  at  a  few  points,  which  is  the  nursery  of  many 
of  the  rivers  of  Devon. 

The  Exe,  indeed,  has  its  source  in  Exmoor,  and  it 
disdains  to  receive  any  affluents  from  Dartmoor ;  and 
the  Torridge  takes  its  rise  hard  by  the  sea  at  Well- 
combe,  within  a  rifleshot  of  the  Bristol  Channel, 
nevertheless  it  makes  a  graceful  sweep  —  tenders  a 
salute  —  to  Dartmoor,  and  in  return  receives  the 
liberal  flow  of  the  Okement.  The  Otter  and  the 
Axe,  being  in  the  far  east  of  the  county,  rise  in  the 
range  of  hills  that  form  the  natural  frontier  between 
Devon  and  Somerset. 


2:     '*'--■   '•  BOGS 

But  all  the  other  considerable  streams  look  back 
upon  Dartmoor  as  their  mother. 

And  what  a  mother  !  She  sends  them  forth  limpid 
and  pure,  full  of  laughter  and  leap,  of  flash  and  brawl. 
She  does  not  discharge  them  laden  with  brown  mud, 
as  the  Exe,  nor  turned  like  the  waters  of  Egypt  to 
blood,  as  the  Creedy. 

A  prudent  mother,  she  feeds  them  regularly,  and 
with  considerable  deliberation.  Her  vast  bogs  act  as 
sponges,  absorbing  the  winter  rains,  and  only  leisurely 
and  prudently  does  she  administer  the  hoarded  supply, 
so  that  the  rivers  never  run  dry  in  the  hottest  and 
most  rainless  summers. 

Of  bogs  there  are  two  sorts,  the  great  parental 
peat  deposits  that  cover  the  highland,  where  not 
too  steep  for  them  to  lie,  and  the  swamps  in  the 
bottoms  formed  by  the  oozings  from  the  hills  that 
have  been  arrested  from  instant  discharge  into  the 
rivers  by  the  growth  of  moss  and  water-weeds,  or 
are  checked  by  belts  of  gravel  and  boulder.  To 
see  the  former,  a  visit  should  be  made  to  Cranmere 
Pool,  or  to  Cut  Hill,  or  Fox  Tor  Mire.  To  get  into 
the  latter  a  stroll  of  ten  minutes  up  a  river-bank  will 
suffice. 

The  existence  of  the  great  parent  bogs  is  due 
either  to  the  fact  that  beneath  them  lies  the  imper- 
vious granite,  as  a  floor,  somewhat  concave,  or  to  the 
whole  rolling  upland  being  covered,  as  with  a  quilt, 
with  equally  impervious  china-clay,  the  fine  deposit 
of  feldspar  washed  from  the  granite  in  the  course 
of  ages. 

In  the  depths  of  the  moor  the  peat  may  be  seen 


BOGS  3 

riven  like  floes  of  ice,  and  the  rifts  are  sometimes 
twelve  to  fourteen  feet  deep,  cut  through  black  veget- 
able matter,  the  product  of  decay  of  plants  through 
countless  generations.  If  the  bottom  be  sufficiently 
denuded  it  is  seen  to  be  white  and  smooth  as  a  girl's 
shoulder — the  kaolin  that  underlies  all. 

On  the  hillsides,  and  in  the  bottoms,  quaking-bogs 
may  be  lighted  upon  or  tumbled  into.  To  light  upon 
them  is  easy  enough,  to  get  out  of  one  if  tumbled  into 
is  a  difficult  matter.  They  are  happily  small,  and 
can  be  at  once  recognised  by  the  vivid  green  pillow 
of  moss  that  overlies  them.  This  pillow  is  sufficiently 
close  in  texture  and  buoyant  to  support  a  man's 
weight,  but  it  has  a  mischievous  habit  of  thinning 
around  the  edge,  and  if  the  water  be  stepped  into 
where  this  fringe  is,  it  is  quite  possible  for  the  inex- 
perienced to  go  under,  and  be  enabled  at  his  leisure  to 
investigate  the  lower  surface  of  the  covering  duvet  of 
porous  moss.  Whether  he  will  be  able  to  give  to  the 
world  the  benefit  of  his  observations  may  be  open  to 
question. 

The  thing  to  be  done  by  anyone  who  gets  into 
such  a  bog  is  to  spread  his  arms  out — this  will 
prevent  his  sinking — and  if  he  cannot  struggle  out, 
to  wait,  cooling  his  toes  in  bog  water,  till  assistance 
comes.  It  is  a  difficult  matter  to  extricate  horses 
when  they  flounder  in,  as  is  not  infrequently  the 
case  in  hunting ;  every  plunge  sends  the  poor  beasts 
in  deeper. 

One  afternoon,  in  the  year  185 1,  I  was  in  the 
Walkham  valley  above  Merrivale  Bridge  digging  into 
what  at  the  time  I  fondly  believed  was  a  tumulus, 


4  BOGS 

but  which  I  subsequently  discovered  to  be  a  mound 
thrown  up  for  the  accommodation  of  rabbits,  when 
a  warren  was  contemplated  on  the  slope  of  Mis  Tor. 

Towards  evening  I  was  startled  to  see  a  most 
extraordinary  object  approach  me — a  man  in  a 
draggled,  dingy,  and  disconsolate  condition,  hardly 
able  to  crawl  along.  When  he  came  up  to  me  he 
burst  into  tears,  and  it  was  some  time  before  I 
could  get  his  story  from  him.  He  was  a  tailor  of 
Plymouth,  who  had  left  his  home  to  attend  the 
funeral  of  a  cousin  at  Sampford  Spiney  or  Walk- 
hampton,  I  forget  which.  At  that  time  there  was 
no  railway  between  Tavistock  and  Launceston ; 
communication  was  by  coach. 

When  the  tailor,  on  the  coach,  reached  Roborough 
Down,  "  'Ere  you  are  ! "  said  the  driver.  "  You  go 
along  there,  and  you  can't  miss  it ! "  indicating  a 
direction  with  his  whip. 

So  the  tailor,  in  his  glossy  black  suit,  and  with  his 
box-hat  set  jauntily  on  his  head,  descended  from 
the  coach,  leaped  into  the  road,  his  umbrella,  also 
black,  under  his  arm,  and  with  a  composed  counten- 
ance started  along  the  road  that  had  been  pointed 
out. 

Where  and  how  he  missed  his  way  he  could  not 
explain,  nor  can  I  guess,  but  instead  of  finding 
himself  at  the  house  of  mourning,  and  partaking  there 
of  cake  and  gin,  and  dropping  a  sympathetic  tear, 
he  got  up  on  to  Dartmoor,  and  got — with  consider- 
able dexterity — away  from  all  roads. 

He  wandered  on  and  on,  becoming  hungry,  feeling 
the   gloss   go   out  of  his  new  black  suit,  and  raws 


LOST   ON    THE    MOOR  5 

develop  upon  his  top-hat  as  it  got  knocked  against 
rocks  in  some  of  his  falls. 

Night  set  in,  and,  as  Homer  says,  "  all  the  paths 
were  darkened  " — but  where  the  tailor  found  himself 
there  were  no  paths  to  become  obscured.  He  lay  in 
a  bog  for  some  time,  unable  to  extricate  himself. 
He  lost  his  umbrella,  and  finally  lost  his  hat.  His 
imagination  conjured  up  frightful  objects ;  if  he  did 
not  lose  his  courage,  it  was  because,  as  a  tailor,  he 
had  none  to  lose. 

He  told  me  incredible  tales  of  the  large,  glaring- 
eyed  monsters  that  had  stared  at  him  as  he  lay  in 
the  bog.  They  were  probably  sheep,  but  as  nine 
tailors  fled  when  a  snail  put  out  its  horns,  no  wonder 
that  this  solitary  member  of  the  profession  was 
scared  at  a  sheep. 

The  poor  wretch  had  eaten  nothing  since  the 
morning  of  the  preceding  day.  Happily  I  had 
half  a  Cornish  pasty  with  me,  and  I  gave  it  him. 
He  fell  on  it  ravenously. 

Then  I  showed  him  the  way  to  the  little  inn  at 
Merrivale  Bridge,  and  advised  him  to  hire  a  trap 
there  and  get  back  to  Plymouth  as  quickly  as 
might  be. 

"  I  solemnly  swear  to  you,  sir,"  said  he,  "  nothing 
will  ever  induce  me  to  set  foot  on  Dartmoor  again. 
If  I  chance  to  see  it  from  the  Hoe,  sir,  I'll  avert 
my  eyes.  How  can  people  think  to  come  here 
for  pleasure — for  pleasure,  sir !  But  there.  Chinamen 
eat  birds'-nests.  There  are  depraved  appetites  among 
human  beings,  and  only  unwholesome-minded  in- 
dividuals can  love  Dartmoor." 


6  BOGS 

There  is  a  story  told  of  one  of  the  nastiest  of  mires 
on  Dartmoor,  that  of  Aune  Head.  A  mire,  by  the 
way,  is  a  pecuh'arly  watery  bog,  that  h'es  at  the  head 
of  a  river.  It  is  its  cradle,  and  a  bog  is  distributed 
indiscriminately  anywhere. 

A  mire  cannot  always  be  traversed  in  safety;  much 
depends  on  the  season.  After  a  dry  summer  it  is 
possible  to  tread  where  it  would  be  death  in  winter 
or  after  a  dropping  summer. 

A  man  is  said  to  have  been  making  his  way 
through  Aune  Mire  when  he  came  on  a  top-hat 
reposing,  brim  downwards,  on  the  sedge.  He  gave 
it  a  kick,  whereupon  a  voice  called  out  from  beneath, 
"  What  be  you  a-doin'  to  my  'at  ?  "  The  man  replied, 
"  Be  there  now  a  chap  under'n  } "  "  Ees,  I  reckon," 
was  the  reply,  "  and  a  hoss  under  me  likewise." 

There  is  a  track  through  Aune  Head  Mire  that  can 
be  taken  with  safety  by  one  who  knows  it. 

Fox  Tor  Mire  once  bore  a  very  bad  name.  The 
only  convict  who  really  got  away  from  Princetown 
and  was  not  recaptured  was  last  seen  taking  a  bee- 
line  for  Fox  Tor  Mire.  The  grappling  irons  at  the 
disposal  of  the  prison  authorities  were  insufficient 
for  the  search  of  the  whole  marshy  tract.  Since  the 
mines  were  started  at  Whiteworks  much  has  been 
done  to  drain  Fox  Tor  Mire,  and  to  render  it  safe  for 
grazing  cattle  on  and  about  it. 

There  is  a  nasty  little  mire  at  the  head  of  Redaven 
Lake,  between  West  Mill  Tor  and  Yes  Tor,  and 
there  is  a  choice  collection  of  them,  inviting  the 
unwary  to  their  chill  embraces,  on  Cater's  Beam, 
about  the  sources  of  the  Plym  and  Blacklane  Brook, 


CRANMERE    POOL  7 

the  ugliest  of  all  occupying  a  pan  and  having  no 
visible  outlet  The  Redlake  mires  are  also  disposed 
to  be  nasty  in  a  wet  season,  and  should  be  avoided 
at  all  times.  Anyone  having  a  fancy  to  study  the 
mires  and  explore  them  for  bog  plants  will  find  an 
elegant  selection  around  Wild  Tor,  to  be  reached  by 
ascending  Taw  Marsh  and  mounting  Steeperton  Tor, 
behind  which  he  will  find  what  he  desires. 

"On  the  high  tableland,"  says  Mr.  William  Collier, 
"above  the  slopes,  even  higher  than  many  tors,  are  the 
great  bogs,  the  sources  of  the  rivers.  The  great  northern 
bog  is  a  vast  tract  of  very  high  land,  nothing  but  bog  and 
sedge,  with  ravines  down  which  the  feeders  of  the  rivers 
pour.  Here  may  be  found  Cranmere  Pool,  which  is  now 
no  pool  at  all,  but  just  a  small  piece  of  bare  black  bog. 
Writers  of  Dartmoor  guide-books  have  been  pleased 
to  make  much  of  this  Cranmere  Pool,  greatly  to  the 
advantage  of  the  living  guides,  who  take  tourists  there 
to  stare  at  a  small  bit  of  black  bog,  and  leave  their 
cards  in  a  receptacle  provided  for  them.  The  large  bog 
itself  is  of  interest  as  the  source  of  many  rivers;  but 
there  is  absolutely  no  interest  in  Cranmere  Pool,  which  is 
nothing  but  a  delusion  and  a  snare  for  tourists.  It  was 
a  small  pool  years  ago,  where  the  rain  water  lodged ;  but 
at  Okement  Head  hard  by  a  fox  was  run  to  ground,  a 
terrier  was  put  in,  and  by  digging  out  the  terrier  Cranmere 
Pool  was  tapped,  and  has  never  been  a  pool  since.  So 
much  for  Cranmere  Pool ! 

"This  great  northern  bog,  divided  into  two  sections  by 
Fur  Tor  and  Fur  Tor  Cut,  extends  southwards  to  within 
a  short  distance  of  Great  Mis  Tor,  and  is  a  vast  receptacle 
of  rain,  which  it  safely  holds  throughout  the  driest  summer. 


8  BOGS 

Fur  Tor  Cut  is  a  passage  between  the  north  and  south  parts 
of  this  great  bog,  evidently  cut  artificially  for  a  pass  for 
cattle  and  men  on  horseback  from  Tay  Head,  or  Tavy 
Head,  to  East  Dart  Head,  forming  a  pass  from  west  to 
east  over  the  very  wildest  part  of  Dartmoor.  Anyone  can 
walk  over  the  bogs ;  there  is  no  danger  or  difficulty  to  a 
man  on  foot  unless  he  gets  exhausted,  as  some  have  done. 
But  horses,  bullocks,  and  sheep  cannot  cross  them.  A 
man  on  horseback  must  take  care  where  he  goes,  and 
this  Fur  Tor  Cut  is  for  his  accommodation."* 

The  Fur  Tor  Mire  is  not  composed  of  black  but 
of  a  horrible  yellow  slime.  There  is  no  peat  in  it, 
and  to  cross  it  one  must  leap  from  one  tuft  of  coarse 
grass  to  another.  The  "  mires  "  are  formed  in  basins 
of  the  granite,  which  were  originally  lakes  or  tarns, 
and  into  which  no  streams  fall  bringing  down  detritus. 
They  are  slowly  and  surely  filling  with  vegetable 
matter,  water-weeds  that  rot  and  sink,  and  as  this 
vegetable  matter  accumulates  it  contracts  the  area 
of  the  water  surface.  In  the  rear  of  the  long  sedge 
grass  or  bogbean  creeps  the  heather,  and  a  com- 
pletely choked-up  mire  eventuates  in  a  peat  bog. 
Granite  has  a  tendency  to  form  saucer-like  depres- 
sions. In  the  Bairischer  Wald,  the  range  dividing 
Bavaria  from  Bohemia,  are  a  number  of  picturesque 
tarns,  that  look  as  though  they  occupied  the  craters 
of  extinct  volcanoes.  This,  however,  is  not  the  case ; 
the  rock  is  granite,  but  in  this  case  the  lakes  are  so 
deep   that   they  have   not   as   yet   been    filled   with 

*  *' Dartmoor,"  in  the   Transactions  of  the  Plymouth  Institution, 
1897-8. 


AN  ADVENTURE  IN  REDMOOR    9 

vegetable  deposit.  On  the  Cornish  moors  is  Dos- 
mare  Pool.  This  is  a  genuine  instance  of  the  lake 
in  a  granitic  district.  In  Redmoor,  near  Fox  Tor,  on 
the  same  moors,  we  have  a  similar  saucer,  with  a 
granitic  lip,  over  which  it  discharges  its  superfluous 
water,  but  it  is  already  so  much  choked  with  veget- 
able growth  as  to  have  become  a  mire.  Ten  thousand 
years  hence  it  will  be  a  great  peat  bog. 

I  had  an  adventure  in  Redmoor,  and  came  nearer 
looking  into  the  world  beyond  than  has  happened 
to  me  before  or  since.  Although  it  occurred  on  the 
Cornish  moors,  it  might  have  chanced  on  Dartmoor, 
in  one  of  its  mires,  for  the  character  of  both  is  the 
same,  and  I  was  engaged  in  the  same  autumn  on 
both  sets  of  moors.  Having  been  dissatisfied  with 
the  Ordnance  maps  of  the  Devon  and  Cornish  moors, 
and  desiring  that  certain  omissions  should  be  cor- 
rected, I  appealed  to  Sir  Charles  Wilson,  of  the 
Survey,  and  he  very  readily  sent  me  one  of  his 
staff,  Mr.  Thomas,  to  go  over  the  ground  with  me, 
and  fill  in  the  particulars  that  deserved  to  be  added. 
This  was  in  1891.  The  summer  had  been  one  of 
excessive  rain,  and  the  bogs  were  swollen  to  bursting. 
Mr.  Thomas  and  I  had  been  engaged,  on  November 
5th,  about  Trewartha  Marsh,  and  as  the  day  closed 
in  we  started  for  the  inhabited  land  and  our  lodgings 
at  "  Five  Janes."  But  in  the  rapidly  closing  day  we 
went  out  of  our  course,  and  when  nearly  dark  found 
ourselves  completely  astray,  and  worst  of  all  in  a 
bog.  We  were  forced  to  separate,  and  make  our 
way  as  best  we  could,  leaping  from  one  patch  of 
rushes  or  moss  to  another.     All  at  once  I  went  in 


lo  BOGS 

over  my  waist,  and  felt  myself  being  sucked  down 
as  though  an  octopus  had  hold  of  me.  I  cried  out, 
but  Thomas  could  neither  see  me  nor  assist  me  had 
he  been  able  to  approach.  Providentially  I  had  a 
long  bamboo,  like  an  alpenstock,  in  my  hand,  and  I 
laid  this  horizontally  on  the  surface  and  struggled 
to  raise  myself  by  it.  After  some  time,  and  with 
desperate  effort,  I  got  myself  over  the  bamboo,  and 
was  finally  able  to  crawl  away  like  a  lizard  on  my 
face.  My  watch  was  stopped  in  my  waistcoat  pocket, 
one  of  my  gaiters  torn  off  by  the  suction  of  the  bog, 
and  I  found  that  for  a  moment  I  had  been  submerged 
even  over  one  shoulder,  as  it  was  wet,  and  the  moss 
clung  to  it. 

On  another  occasion  I  went  with  two  of  my 
children,  on  a  day  when  clouds  were  sweeping  across 
the  moor,  over  Langstone  Moor.  I  was  going  to 
the  collection  of  hut  circles  opposite  Greenaball,  on 
the  shoulder  of  Mis  Tor.  Unhappily,  we  got  into  the 
bog  at  the  head  of  Peter  Tavy  Brook.  This  is  by  no 
means  a  dangerous  morass,  but  after  a  rainy  season 
it  is  a  nasty  one  to  cross. 

Simultaneously  down  on  us  came  the  fog,  dense 
as  cotton  wool.  For  quite  half  an  hour  we  were 
entangled  in  this  absurdly  insignificant  bog.  In  get- 
ting about  in  a  mire,  the  only  thing  to  be  done  is 
to  leap  from  one  spot  to  another  where  there  seems 
to  be  sufficient  growth  of  water-plants  and  moss 
to  stay  one  up.  In  doing  this  one  loses  all  idea 
of  direction,  and  we  were,  I  have  no  doubt,  forming 
figures  of  eight  in  our  endeavours  to  extricate  our- 
selves.   I  knew  that  the  morass  was  inconsiderable  in 


BOG    PLANTS  ii 

extent,  and  that  by  taking  a  straight  line  it  would  be 
easy  to  get  out  of  it,  but  in  a  fog  it  was  not  possible 
to  take  a  bee-line.  Happily,  for  a  moment  the 
curtain  of  mist  lifted,  and  I  saw  on  the  horizon, 
standing  up  boldly,  the  stones  of  the  great  circle 
that  is  planted  on  the  crest.  I  at  once  shouted 
to  the  children  to  follow  me,  and  in  two  minutes 
we  were  on  solid  land. 

The  Dartmoor  bogs  may  be  explored  for  rare 
plants  and  mosses.  The  buckbean  will  be  found 
and  recognised  by  its  three  succulent  sea-green 
leaflets,  and  by  its  delicately  beautiful  white  flower 
tinged  with  pink,  in  June  and  July.  I  found  it 
in  1 86 1  in  abundance  in  Iceland,  where  it  is 
called  Alptar  colavr^  the  swan's  clapper.  About 
Hamburg  it  is  known  as  the  "flower  of  liberty," 
and  grows  only  within  the  domains  of  the  old 
Hanseatic  Republic.  In  Iceland  it  serves  a  double 
purpose.  Its  thickly  interwoven  roots  are  cut  and 
employed  in  square  pieces  like  turf  or  felt  as 
a  protection  for  the  backs  of  horses  that  are  laden 
with  packs.  Moreover,  in  crossing  a  bog,  the 
clever  native  ponies  always  know  that  they  can 
tread  safely  where  they  see  the  white  flower  stand 
aloft. 

The  golden  asphodel  is  common,  and  remarkably 
lovely,  with  its  shades  of  yellow  from  the  deep- 
tinted  buds  to  the  paler  expanded  flower.  The 
sundew  is  everywhere  that  water  lodges ;  the  sweet 
gale  has  foliage  of  a  pale  yellowish  green  sprinkled 
over  with  dots,  which  are  resinous  glands.  The 
berries    also   are   sprinkled   with    the    same    glands. 


12  BOGS 

The  plant  has  a  powerful,  but  fresh  and  pleasant, 
odour,  which  insects  dislike.  Country  people  were 
wont  to  use  sprigs  of  it,  like  lavender,  to  put  with 
their  linen,  and  to  hang  boughs  above  their  beds. 
The  catkins  yield  a  quantity  of  wax.  The  sweet 
gale  was  formerly  much  more  abundant,  and  was 
largely  employed ;  it  went  by  the  name  of  the 
Devonshire  myrtle.  When  boiled,  the  wax  rises 
to  the  surface  of  the  water.  Tapers  were  made 
of  it,  and  were  so  fragrant  while  burning,  that 
they  were  employed  in  sick-rooms.  In  Prussia, 
at  one  time,  they  were  constantly  furnished  for 
the  royal  household. 

The  marsh  helleborine,  Epipactis  palustris^  may 
be  gathered,  and  the  pyramidal  orchis,  and  butter- 
fly and  frog  orchises,  occasionally. 

The  furze — only  out  of  bloom  when  Love  is  out 
of  tune — keeps  away  from  the  standing  water.  It 
is  the  furze  which  is  the  glory  of  the  moor,  with 
its  dazzling  gold  and  its  honey  breath,  fighting  for 
existence  against  the  farmer  who  fires  it  every  year, 
and  envelops  Dartmoor  in  a  cloud  of  smoke  from 
March  to  June.  Why  should  he  do  this  instead  of 
employing  the  young  shoots  as  fodder  } 

I  think  that  as  Scotland  has  the  thistle,  Ireland 
the  shamrock,  and  Wales  the  leek  as  their  emblems, 
we  Western  men  of  Devon  and  Cornwall  should 
adopt  the  furze.  If  we  want  a  day,  there  is  that  of 
our  apostle  S.  Petrock,  on  June  4th. 

By  the  streams  and  rivers  and  on  hedgebanks  the 
yellow  broom  blazes,  yet  it  cannot  rival  in  intensity 
of  colour  and  in  variety  of  tint  the  magnificent  furze 


BEE-KEEPING  13 

or  gorse.  But  the  latter  is  not  a  pleasant  plant  to 
walk  amidst,  owing  to  its  prickles,  and  especial  care 
must  be  observed  lest  it  affix  one  of  these  in  the 
knee.  The  spike  rapidly  works  inwards  and  pro- 
duces intense  pain  and  lameness.  The  moment  it 
is  felt  to  be  there,  the  thing  to  be  done  is  immediately 
to  extract  it  with  a  knife.  From  the  blossoms  of 
the  furze  the  bees  derive  their  aromatic  honey, 
which  makes  that  of  Dartmoor  supreme.  Yet  bee- 
keeping is  a  difficulty  there,  owing  to  the  gales,  that 
sweep  the  busy  insects  away,  so  that  they  fail  to 
find  their  direction  home.  Only  in  sheltered  combes 
can  they  be  kept. 

The  much-relished  Swiss  honey  is  a  manufactured 
product  of  glycerine  and  pear-juice ;  but  Dartmoor 
honey  is  the  sublimated  essence  of  ambrosial  sweet- 
ness in  taste  and  savour,  drawn  from  no  other  source 
than  the  chalices  of  the  golden  furze,  and  com- 
pounded with  no  adventitious  matter. 


CHAPTER    II. 
TORS 

Dartmoor  from  a  distance — Elevation — The  tors— Old  lake -beds — 
' '  Glitters  " — The  boldest  tors — Luminous  moss — The  whortleberry — 
Composition  of  granite — Wolfram — The  "forest"  and  its  surrounding 
commons — Venville  parishes — Encroachment  of  culture  on  the 
moor — The  four  quarters— A  drift— Attempts  to  reclaim  the  moor 
— Flint  finds — The  inclosing  of  commons. 

SEEN  from  a  distance,  as  for  instance  from 
Winkleigh  churchyard,  or  from  Exbourne,  Dart- 
moor presents  a  stately  appearance,  as  a  ridge  of 
blue  mountains  rising  boldly  against  the  sky  out  of 
rolling,  richly  wooded  underland. 

But  it  is  only  from  the  north  and  north-west  that  it 
shows  so  well.  From  south  and  east  it  has  less 
dignity  of  aspect,  as  the  middle  distance  is  made 
up  of  hills,  as  also  because  the  heights  of  the 
encircling  tors  are  not  so  considerable,  nor  is  their 
outline  so  bold. 

Indeed,  the  southern  edge  of  Dartmoor  is  con- 
spicuously tame.  It  has  no  abrupt  and  rugged 
heights,  no  chasms  cleft  and  yawning  in  the  range, 
such  as  those  of  the  Okement  and  the  Tavy  and  Taw. 
And  to  the  east  much  high  ground  is  found  rising  in 
stages  to  the  fringe  of  the  heather-clothed  tors. 

Dartmoor,  consisting  mainly  of  a  great  upheaved 
mass  of  granite,  and  of  a  margin  of  strata  that  have 

14 


3  J  >  J  : 


)  »  3    J    3 

)  >  )  1  J 


ELEVATION— THE   TORS         15 

been  tilted  up  round  it,  forms  an  elevated  region  some 
thirty-two  miles  from  north  to  south  and  twenty  from 
east  to  west.  The  heated  granite  has  altered  the 
slates  in  contact  with  it,  and  is  itself  broken  through 
on  the  west  side  by  an  upward  gush  of  molten  matter 
which  has  formed  Whit  Tor  and  Brent  Tor. 

The  greatest  elevations  are  reached  on  the  out- 
skirts, and  there,  also,  is  the  finest  scenery.  The 
interior  consists  of  rolling  upland.  It  has  been 
likened  to  a  sea  after  a  storm  suddenly  arrested  and 
turned  to  stone  ;  but  a  still  better  resemblance,  if  not 
so  romantic,  is  that  of  a  dust-sheet  thrown  over  the 
dining-room  chairs,  the  backs  of  which  resemble  the 
tors  divided  from  one  another  by  easy  sweeps  of  turf. 

Most  of  the  heights  are  crowned  with  masses  of 
rock  standing  up  like  old  castles ;  these,  and  these 
only,  are  tors.*  Such  are  the  worn -down  stumps 
of  vast  masses  of  mountain  formation  that  have  dis- 
appeared. There  are  no  lakes  on  or  about  the  moor, 
but  this  was  not  always  so.  Where  is  now  Bovey 
Heathfield  was  once  a  noble  sheet  of  water  fifty 
fathoms  deep.  Here  have  been  found  beds  of  lignite, 
forests  that  have  been  overwhelmed  by  the  wash  from 
the  moor,  a  canoe  rudely  hollowed  out  of  an  oak, 
and  a  curious  wooden  idol  was  exhumed  leaning 
against  a  trunk  of  tree  that  had  been  swallowed  up 
in  a  freshet.  The  canoe  was  nine  feet  long.  Bronze 
spear-heads  have  also  been  found  in  this  ancient 
lake,  and  moulds  for  casting  bronze  instruments.    A 


*  The  Welsh  twr  is  a  tower  ;  twrr,  a.  heap  or  pile.     From  the  same 
root  as  the  Latin  tuiris. 


i6  TORS 

representation  of  the  idol  was  given  in  the   Trans- 
actions of  the  Devonshire  Association  for  1875. 

The  new  Plymouth  Reservoir  overlies  an  old  lake- 
bed.  Taw  Marsh  was  also  once  a  sheet  of  rippling  , 
blue  water,  but  the  detritus  brought  down  in  the  \^ 
weathering  of  what  once  were  real  mountains  has  filled 
them  all  up.  Dartmoor  at  present  bears  the  same 
relation  to  Dartmoor  in  the  far  past  that  the  gums 
of  an  old  hag  bear  to  the  pearly  range  she  wore 
when  a  fresh  girl.  The  granite  of  Dartmoor  was  not 
well  stirred  before  it  was  turned  out,  consequently 
it  is  not  homogeneous.  Granite  is  made  up  of 
many  materials :  hornblende,  feldspar,  quartz,  mica, 
schorl,  etc.  Sometimes  we  find  white  mica,  some- 
times black.  Some  granite  is  red,  as  at  Trowles- 
worthy,  and  the  beautiful  band  that  crosses  the  Tavy 
at  the  Cleave ;  sometimes  pink,  as  at  Leather  Tor ; 
sometimes  greenish,  as  above  Okery  Bridge ;  some- 
times pure  white,  as  at  Mill  Tor. 

The  granite  is  of  very  various  consistency,  and 
this  has  given  it  an  appearance  on  the  tors  as  if 
it  were  a  sedimentary  rock  laid  in  beds.  But  this 
is  its  little  joke  to  impose  on  the  ignorant.  The 
feature  is  due  to  the  unequal  hardness  of  the  rock 
which  causes  it  to  weather  in  strata. 

The  fine-grained  granite  that  occurs  in  dykes  is 
called  elvan,  which,  if  easiest  to  work,  is  most  liable  to 
decay.  In  Cornwall  the  elvan  of  Pentewan  was  used 
for  the  fine  church  of  S.  Austell,  and  as  a  consequence 
the  weather  has  gnawed  it  away,  and  the  greater  part 
has  had  to  be  renewed.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
splendid  elvan  of   Haute  Vienne  has  supplied  the 


> 


''GLITTERS"  17 

cathedral  of  Limoges  with  a  fine-grained  material  that 
has  been  carved  like  lace,  and  lasts  well. 

The  drift  that  swept  over  the  land  would  appear  to 
have  been  from  west  to  east,  with  a  trend  to  the 
south,  as  no  granite  has  been  transported,  except  in 
the  river-beds  to  the  north  or  west,  whereas  blocks 
have  been  conveyed  eastward.  This  is  in  accordance 
with  what  is  shown  by  the  long  ridges  of  clay  on  the 
west  of  Dartmoor,  formed  of  the  rubbing  down  of 
the  slaty  rocks  that  lie  north  and  north-west.  These 
bands  all  run  north  and  south  on  the  sides  of  hills, 
and  in  draining  processes  they  have  to  be  pierced 
from  east  to  west.  This  indicates  that  at  some  period 
during  the  Glacial  Age  there  was  a  wash  of  water 
from  the  north-west  over  Devon,  depositing  clay  and 
transporting  granite. 

On  the  sides  of  the  tors  are  what  are  locally  termed 
"  clitters  "  or  "  clatters  "  (Welsh  clechr),  consisting  of 
a  vast  quantity  of  stone  strewn  in  streams  from  the 
tors,  spreading  out  fanlike  on  the  slopes.  These  are 
the  wreckage  of  the  tor  when  far  higher  than  it  is 
now,  i.e.  of  the  harder  portions  that  have  not  been 
dissolved  and  swept  away. 

"  The  tors — Nature's  towers — are  huge  masses  of  granite 
on  the  top  of  the  hills,  which  are  not  high  enough  to 
be  called  mountains,  piled  one  upon  another  in  Nature's 
own  fantastic  way.  There  may  be  a  tor,  or  a  group  of  tors, 
crowning  an  eminence,  but  the  effect,  either  near  or  afar,  is 
to  give  the  hilltop  a  grand  and  imposing  look.  These 
large  blocks  of  granite,  poised  on  one  another,  some 
appearing  as  if  they  must  fall,  others  piled  with  curious 
regularity — considering  they  are  Nature's  work — are  the 
c 


i8  TORS 

prominent  features  in  a  Dartmoor  landscape,  and,  wild  as 
parts  of  Dartmoor  are,  the  tors  add  a  notable  picturesque 
effect  to  the  scene.  There  are  very  fine  tors  on  the  western 
side  of  the  moor.  Those  on  the  east  and  south  are  not  so 
fine  as  those  on  the  north  and  west.  In  the  centre  of  the 
moor  there  are  also  fine  tors.  They  are,  in  fact,  very  numer- 
ous, for  nearly  every  little  hill  has  its  granite  cap,  which  is 
a  tor,  and  every  tor  has  its  name.  Some  of  the  high  hills 
that  are  torless  are  called  beacons,  and  were  doubtless  used 
as  signal  beacons  in  times  gone  by.  As  the  tors  are  not 
grouped  or  built  with  any  design  by  Nature  to  attract  the 
eye  of  man,  they  are  the  more  attractive  on  that  account, 
and  one  of  their  consequent  peculiarities  is  that  from  differ- 
ent points  of  view  they  never  appear  the  same.  There  can 
be  no  sameness  in  a  landscape  of  tors  when  every  tor 
changes  its  features  according  to  the  point  of  view  from 
which  you  look  at  it.  Every  tor  also  has  its  heap  of  rock 
at  its  feet,  some  of  them  very  striking  jumbles  of  blocks  of 
granite  scattered  in  great  confusion  between  the  tor  and  the 
foot  of  the  hill.  Fur  Tor,  which  is  in  the  very  wildest  spot 
on  Dartmoor,  and  is  one  of  the  leading  tors,  has  a  clitter  of 
rocks  on  its  western  side  as  remarkable  as  the  tor  itself; 
Mis  Tor,  also  on  its  western  side,  has  a  very  fine  clitter 
of  granite ;  Leather  Tor  stands  on  the  top  of  a  mass  of 
granite  rocks  on  its  east  and  south  sides ;  and  Hen  Tor,  on 
the  south  quarter,  is  surrounded  with  blocks  of  granite,  with 
a  hollow  like  the  crater  of  a  volcano,  as  if  they  had  been 
thrown  up  by  a  great  convulsion  of  Nature.  Hen  Tor  is 
remarkable  chiefly  for  this  wonderful  mass  of  granite  blocks 
strewn  around  it.  All  the  moor  has  granite  boulders 
scattered  about,  but  they  accumulate  at  the  feet  of  the  tors 
as  if  for  their  support.""^ 

*  Collier,  op.  cit. 


VIXEN  TOR 


•>       J       )  } 

J       J        J       J 


)   1      >       J 


LUMINOUS    MOSS  19 

Here  among  the  clitters,  where  they  form  caves, 
a  search  may  be  made  for  the  beautiful  moss 
Schistostega  osmundacea.  It  has  a  metallic  lustre 
like  green  gold,  and  on  entering  a  dark  place  under 
rocks,  the  ground  seems  to  be  blazing  with  gold. 
In  Germany  the  Fichtel  Gebirge  are  of  granite, 
and  the  Luchsen  Berg  is  so  called  because  there 
in  the  hollow  under  the  rocks  grew  abundance  of 
the  moss  glittering  like  the  eyes  of  a  lynx.  The 
authorities  of  Alexanderbad  have  had  to  rail  in 
the  grottoes  to  prevent  the  gold  moss  from  being 
carried  off  by  the  curious.  Murray  says  of  these 
retreats  of  the  luminous  moss : — 

"The  wonder  of  the  place  is  the  beautiful  phosphor- 
escence which  is  seen  in  the  crannies  of  the  rocks,  and 
which  appears  and  disappears  according  to  the  position 
of  the  spectator.  This  it  is  which  has  given  rise  to 
the  fairy  tales  of  gold  and  gems  with  which  the  gnomes 
and  cobolds  tantalise  the  poor  peasants.  The  light 
resembles  that  of  glow-worms;  or,  if  compared  to  a 
precious  stone,  it  is  something  between  a  chrysolite  and 
a  cat's-eye,  but  shining  with  a  more  metallic  lustre.  On 
picking  up  some  of  it,  and  bringing  it  to  the  light,  nothing 
is  found  but  dirt." 

Professor  Lloyd  found  that  the  luminous  appear- 
ance was  due  to  the  presence  of  small  crystals  in  the 
structure  which  reflect  the  light.     Coleridge  says : — 

"'Tis  said  in  Summer's  evening  hour. 
Flashes  the  golden-coloured  flower, 
A  fair  electric  light." 


20  TORS 

In  1843,  when  the  luminosity  of  plants  was 
recorded  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  British  Associa- 
tion, Mr.  Babington  mentioned  having  seen  in  the 
south  of  England  a  peculiar  bright  appearance 
produced  by  the  presence  of  the  Schistostega  pennata, 
a  little  moss  which  inhabited  caverns  and  dark 
places :  but  this  was  objected  to  on  the  ground 
that  the  plant  reflected  light,  and  did  not  give  it 
off  in  phosphorescence.* 

When  lighted  on,  it  has  the  appearance  of  a 
handful  of  emeralds  or  aqua  marine  thrown  into 
a  dark  hole,  and  is  frequently  associated  with  the 
bright  green  liverwort.  Parfitt,  in  his  Moss  Flora 
of  Devon,  gives  it  as  osmundacea,  not  as  pennata. 
It  was  first  discovered  in  Britain  by  a  Mr.  Newberry, 
on  the  road  from  Zeal  to  South  Tawton ;  it  is,  how- 
ever, to  be  found  in  a  good  many  places,  as  Hound 
Tor,  Widdecombe,  Leather  Tor,  and  in  the  Swin- 
combe  valley,  also  in  a  cave  under  Lynx  Tor.  If 
found,  please  to  leave  alone.  Gathered  it  is  invisible; 
the  hand  or  knife  brings  away  only  mud. 

But  what  all  are  welcome  to  go  after  is  that  which 
is  abundant  on  every  moorside — but  nowhere  finer 
than  on  such  as  have  not  been  subjected  to  periodical 
"swaling"  or  burning.  I  refer  to  the  whortleberry. 
This  delicious  fruit,  eaten  with  Devonshire  cream, 
is  indeed  a  delicacy.  A  gentleman  from  London 
was  visiting  me  one  day.  As  he  was  fond  of  good 
things,  I  gave  him  whortleberry  and  cream.  He 
ate  it  in  dead  silence,  then  leaned  back  in  his  chair, 

*  Hardwicke's  Science  Gossip,  1871,  p.  123. 


THE    WHORTLEBERRY  21 

looked  at  me  with  eyes  full  of  feeling,  and  said,  "  I 
am  thankful  that  I  have  lived  to  this  day." 

The  whortleberry  is  a  good  deal  used  in  the  south 
of  France  for  the  adulteration  and  colouring  of  claret, 
whole  truck-loads  being  imported  from  Germany. 

There  is  an  interesting  usage  in  my  parish,  and  I 
presume  the  same  exists  in  others.  On  one  day  in 
summer,  when  the  "whorts"  are  ripe,  the  mothers 
unite  to  hire  waggons  of  the  farmers,  or  borrow 
them,  and  go  forth  with  their  little  ones  to  the 
moor.  They  spend  the  day  gathering  the  berries, 
and  light  their  fires,  form  their  camp,  and  have  their 
meals  together,  returning  late  in  the  evening,  very 
sunburnt,  with  very  purple  mouths,  very  tired  may- 
be, but  vastly  happy,  and  with  sufficient  fruit  to  sell 
to  pay  all  expenses  and  leave  something  over. 

If  the  reader  would  know  what  minerals  are  found 
on  Dartmoor  he  must  go  elsewhere. 

I  have  a  list  before  me  that  begins  thus:  "Allo- 
phane,  actinolite,  achroite,  andalusite,  apatite'' — 
but  I  can  copy  out  no  more.  I  have  often  found 
appetite  on  Dartmoor,  but  have  not  the  slightest 
suspicion  as  to  what  is  apatite.  The  list  winds 
up  with  wolfram,  about  which  I  can  say  something. 
Wolfram  is  a  mineral  very  generally  found  along 
with  tin,  and  that  is  just  the  "cussedness"  of  it, 
for  it  spoils  tin. 

When  tin  ore  is  melted  at  a  good  peat  fire,  out 
runs  a  silver  streak  of  metal.  This  is  brittle  as 
glass,  because  of  the  wolfram  in  it.  To  get  rid  of 
the  wolfram  the  whole  has  to  be  roasted,  and  the 
operation  is  delicate,  and  must  have  bothered  our 


22  TORS 

forefathers  considerably.  By  means  of  this  second 
process  the  wolfram,  or  tungsten  as  it  is  also  called, 
is  got  rid  of 

Now,  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  tin  of  Dartmoor 
is  of  extraordinary  purity ;  it  has  little  or  none  of 
this  abominable  wolfram  associated  with  it,  so  that 
it  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  the  value  of  tin 
as  a  metal  was  discovered  on  Dartmoor,  or  in  some 
as  yet  unknown  region  where  it  is  equally  unalloyed. 

In  Cornwall  all  the  tin  is  mixed  with  tungsten. 
Now  this  material  has  been  hitherto  regarded  as 
worthless  ;  it  has  been  sworn  at  by  successive  genera- 
tions of  miners  since  mining  first  began.  But  all 
at  once  it  has  leaped  into  importance,  for  it  has 
been  discovered  to  possess  a  remarkable  property 
of  hardening  iron,  and  is  now  largely  employed  for 
armour-plated  vessels.  From  being  worth  nothing 
it  has  risen  to  a  rapidly  rising  value,  as  we  are 
becoming  aware  that  we  shall  have  to  present  im- 
penetrable sides  to  our  Continental  neighbours. 

Dartmoor  comprises  the  "forest"  and  the  surround- 
ing commons,  as  extensive  together  as  the  forest  itself. 
"What  have  you  got  on  you,  little  girl?"  asked 
a  good  woman  of  a  shivering  child.  "  Please,  mem, 
first  there's  a  jacket,  then  a  gownd,  and  then  comes 
Oi."  So  with  Dartmoor.  First  come  the  venville 
parishes,  next  their  extensive  commons,  and  "then 
comes  Oi,"  the  forest  itself 

The  venville  parishes  are  all  moorland  parishes — 
Belstone,  Throwleigh,  Gidleigh,  Chagford,  North 
Bovey,  Manaton,  Widdecombe,  Holne,  Buckfast- 
leigh,    Dean    Prior,   South    Brent,    Shaugh,    Meavy, 


VENVILLE   PARISHES  23 

Sheeps  Tor,  Walkhampton,  Sampford  Spiney,  Whit- 
church, Peter  Tavy,  Lydford,  Bridestowe,  Sourton. 
There  are  others,  standing  Hke  the  angel  of  the 
Apocalypse,  with  one  foot  on  the  moorland,  the 
other  steeped  in  the  green  waves  of  foliage  of  the 
lowlands ;  such  are  South  Tawton,  Cornwood,  and 
Tavistock.  Others,  again,  as  Lustleigh,  Bridford, 
Moreton,  Buckland-in-the-Moor,  Ilsington,  and  Ug- 
borough,  must  surely  have  been  moorland  settle- 
ments at  one  time,  and  Okehampton  itself  is  as  dis- 
tinctly a  moor  town  as  is  Moreton,  which  tells  its 
own  tale  in  its  name.  But  all  these  have  their  warm 
envelope  of  arable  land,  groves  and  woods,  farms 
and  hamlets.  Such  have  their  commons,  over  which 
every  householder  has  a  right  to  send  cattle,  to  take 
turf  and  stone,  and,  alas !  with  the  connivance  of  the 
other  householders,  to  inclose.  This  inclosing  has 
been  going  on  at  a  great  rate  in  some  of  the  parishes. 
For  instance,  common  rights  are  exercised  by  the 
householders  of  South  Zeal  over  an  immense  tract 
of  land  on  the  north  side  of  Cosdon.  Of  late  years 
they  have  put  their  heads  together  and  decided,  as 
they  are  few  in  number,  to  appropriate  it  to  them- 
selves as  private  property,  and  inclosures  have  pro- 
ceeded at  a  rapid  rate. 

In  Bridestowe  there  is  a  tract  of  open  land  on 
which  the  poor  cotters  have,  from  time  immemorial, 
kept  their  cows.  But  they  are  tenants,  and  not  house- 
holders, and  have  consequently  no  rights.  The  seven 
or  eight  owners  have  combined  to  inclose  and  sell  or 
let  for  building  purposes  all  that  tract  of  moor,  and 
the  cotters  have  lost  their  privilege  of  keeping  cows. 


24  TORS 

What  we  see  now  going  on  under  our  eyes  has  been 
going  on  from  time  immemorial.  Parishes  have  en- 
croached, and  the  genuine  forest  has  shrunk  together 
before  them.  The  commons  still  exist,  and  are  ex- 
tensive, but  they  are  being  gradually  and  surely 
reduced.  "  Then  comes  Oi ! "  Look  at  the  map 
and  see  of  what  the  forest  really  consists.  It  surely 
must  have  been  larger  formerly. 

On  the  forest  itself  are  a  certain  number  of 
"ancient  tenements,"  thirty-five  in  all.  These  are 
of  remote  antiquity.  On  certainly  most  of  them, 
probably  on  all,  the  plough  and  the  hoe  turn  up 
numerous  flint  tools,  weapons,  and  chips — sure  proof 
that  they  were  settlements  in  prehistoric  times. 
These  tenements  are  at  Brimpts,  Hexvvorthy, 
Huccaby,  Believer,  Dunnabridge,  Baberry,  Pizwell, 
Runnage,  Sherberton,  Riddons,  Merripit,  Hartland, 
Broom  Park,  Brown  Berry,  and  Prince  Hall.  These 
were  held — and  some  still  are — by  copy  of  the 
Court  Roll,  and  the  holders  are  bound  to  do  suit 
and  service  at  the  Court.  It  is  customary  for  every 
holder  on  accession  to  the  holding  to  inclose  a  tract 
of  a  hundred  acres,  and  this  inclosure  constitutes  his 
newtake. 

The  forest  belongs  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  but  I 
believe  has  never  been  visited  by  him.  Were  he  to 
do  so,  he  would  be  surprised,  and  perhaps  not  a  little 
indignant,  to  see  how  his  tenants  are  housed.  A 
forest  does  not  necessarily  signify  a  wood.  It  is  a 
place  for  wild  beasts.  The  origin  of  the  word  is  not 
very  clear.  Lindwode  says,  ''  A  Forest  is  a  place 
where  are  wild  beasts  ;    whereas  a  Park  is  a  place 


,^     3     ^ .  , ' 


J   >    >    3    > 


<  <   <•  BO* 


ENCROACHMENT  OF  CULTURE   25 

where  they  are  shut  in."  Ockam  says,  "  A  Forest  is 
a  safe  abode  for  wild  beasts,"  and  derives  the  word 
from /eresta,  i.e.  a  place  for  wild  creatures.  It  was,  in 
fact,  a  tract  of  uninclosed  land  reserved  for  the  king 
to  hunt  in,  and  a  chase  was  a  similar  tract  reserved  by 
the  lord  of  the  manor  for  his  own  hunting. 

It  is  more  than  doubtful  whether  Dartmoor  was 
ever  covered  with  trees.  No  doubt  there  have  been 
trees  in  the  bottoms,  and  indeed  oak  has  been 
taken  from  some  of  the  bogs ;  but  the  charcoal  found 
in  the  fire-pits  of  the  primitive  inhabitants  of  the 
moor  in  the  Bronze  Age  shows  that,  even  in  the  pre- 
historic period,  the  principal  wood  was  alder,  and  that 
such  oak  as  there  was  did  not  grow  to  a  large  size, 
and  was  mainly  confined  to  the  valleys  that  opened 
out  of  the  moor  into  the  lowlands.  Up  these,  doubt- 
less, the  forest  crept.  Elsewhere  there  may  have 
been  clusters  of  stunted  trees,  of  which  the  only 
relics  are  Piles  and  Wistman's  Wood.  There  were 
some  very  fine  oaks  at  Brimpts,  and  also  in  Oke- 
hampton  Park,  but  these  were  cut  down  during  the 
European  war  with  Napoleon.  After  the  wood  at 
Brimpts  had  fallen  under  the  axe,  it  was  found  that 
the  cost  of  carriage  would  be  so  great  that  the  timber 
was  sold  for  a  mere  trifle,  only  sufficient  to  pay  for 
the  labour  of  cutting  it  down. 

The  forest  is  divided  into  four  quarters,  in  each  of 
which,  except  the  western,  is  a  pound  for  stray 
cattle.  Formerly  the  Forest  Reeve  privately  com- 
municated with  the  venville  men  when  he  had  fixed 
a  day  for  a  "drift,"  which  was  always  some  time 
about  midsummer.     Then  early  in  the  morning  all 


26  TORS 

assembled  mounted.  A  horn  was  blown  through 
a  holed  stone  set  up  on  a  height,  and  the  drift  began. 
Cattle  or  horses  were  driven  to  a  certain  point,  at 
which  stood  an  officer  of  the  Duchy  on  a  stone,  and 
read  a  proclamation,  after  which  the  owners  were 
called  to  claim  their  cattle  or  ponies.  Venville 
tenants  removed  them  without  paying  any  fine,  but 
all  others  were  pounded,  and  their  owners  could  not 
recover  them  without  payment  of  a  fine. 

The  Duchy  Pound  is  at  Dunnabridge,  where  is 
a  curious  old  seat  within  the  inclosure  for  the 
adjudicator  of  fines  and  costs.  It  is  apparently  a 
cromlech  that  has  been  removed  or  adapted.  The 
Duchy  now  lets  the  quarters  to  the  moormen,  who 
charge  a  small  fee  for  every  sheep,  bullock,  or 
horse  turned  out  on  the  moor  not  belonging  to  a 
venville  man,  and  for  this  fee  they  accord  it  their 
protection. 

A  good  deal  of  money  has  been  expended  on 
the  reclaiming  of  Dartmoor.  Sir  Thomas  Tyrwhitt, 
Usher  of  the  Black  Rod,  was  Warden  of  the  Stannary 
and  Steward  of  the  Forest  for  George  IV.  when 
Prince  of  Wales.  He  fondly  supposed  that  he  had 
discovered  an  uncultivated  land,  which  needed  only 
the  plough  and  some  lime  to  make  its  virgin  soil 
productive.  He  induced  others  to  embark  on  the 
venture.  Swincombe  and  Stannon  were  started  to 
become  fine  farm  estates.  Great  entrance  gates  were 
erected  to  where  mansions  were  proposed  to  be  built. 
But  those  who  had  leased  these  lands  found  that  the 
draining  of  the  bogs  drained  their  pockets  much 
faster  than  the  mires,  and  abandoned  the  attempt 


INCLOSING   OF   COMMONS       27 

which  had  ruined  them.  Others  followed.  Prince's 
Hall  was  rebuilt  with  fine  farm  buildings  by  a  Mr. 
Fowler  from  the  north  of  England,  who  expended 
his  fortune  there  and  left  a  disappointed  man. 
Before  him  Sir  Francis  Buller,  who  had  bought 
Prince's  Hall,  planted  there  forty  thousand  trees — 
such  as  are  not  dead  are  distorted  starvelings.  Mr. 
Bennett  built  Archerton,  near  Post  Bridge,  and  in- 
closed thousands  of  acres.  He  cannot  have  recovered 
a  sum  approaching  his  outlay  in  the  sixty  years  of 
his  tenancy.  The  fact  is  that  Dartmoor  is  cut  out 
by  Nature  to  be  a  pasturage  for  horses,  cattle,  and 
sheep  in  the  summer  months,  and  for  that  only. 
In  the  burning  and  dry  summers  of  1893,  1897,  and 
1899  tens  of  thousands  of  cattle  were  sent  there, 
even  from  so  far  off  as  Kent,  where  water  and 
pasturage  were  scarce,  and  on  the  moor  they  both 
are  ever  abundant. 

Tenements  there  must  be,  but  they  should  be 
in  the  sheltered  valleys,  and  the  wide  hillsides  and 
sweeps  of  moor  should  be  left  severely  alone.  As 
it  is,  encroachments  have  gone  on  unchecked,  rather 
have  been  encouraged.  Every  parish  in  Devon  has 
a  right  to  send  cattle  to  the  moor,  excepting  only 
Barnstaple  and  Totnes.  But  the  Duchy,  by  allowing 
and  favouring  inclosures,  is  able  to  turn  common 
land  into  private  property,  and  that  it  is  only  too 
willing  to  do. 

Happily  there  now  exists  a  Dartmoor  Preserva- 
tion Society,  which  is  ready  to  contest  every  attempt 
made  in  this  direction.  But  it  can  do  very  little  to 
protect  the  commons  around  the  forest — in  fact  it 


28  TORS 

can  do  nothing,  if  the  freeholders  in  the  parishes  that 
enjoy  common  rights  agree  together  to  appropriate 
the  land  to  themselves — and  for  the  poor  labourer 
who  is  able  to  buy  himself  a  cow  it  can  do  nothing 
at  all,  for  his  rights  have  no  legal  force. 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE   ANCIENT   INHABITANTS 

Abundance  of  remains  of  primeval  inhabitants — No  trace  of  Briton  or 
Saxon  on  Dartmoor — None  of  Palaeolithic  man— The  Neolithic  man 
who  occupied  it — Account  of  his  migrations — His  presence  in 
Ireland,  in  China,  in  Algeria — A  pastoral  people — The  pottery — 
The  arrival  of  the  Celt  in  Britain  in  two  waves — The  Gael — The 
Briton — Introduction  of  iron — Mode  of  life  of  the  original  occupants 
of  the  moor — The  huts — Pounds — Cooking — Tracklines — Enormous 
numbers  who  lived  on  Dartmoor — A  peaceable  people. 

PROBABLY  no  other  tract  of  land  of  the  same 
extent  in  England  contains  such  numerous  and 
well-preserved  remains  of  prehistoric  antiquity  as 
Dartmoor. 

The  curious  feature  about  them  is  that  they  all 
belong  to  one  period,  that  of  the  Early  Bronze,  when 
flint  was  used  abundantly,  but  metal  was  known, 
and  bronze  was  costly  and  valued  as  gold  is  now. 

Not  a  trace  has  been  found  so  far  of  the  peoples 
who  intervened  between  these  primitive  occupants 
and  the  mediaeval  tin-miners. 

If  iron  was  introduced  a  couple  of  centuries  before 
the  Christian  era,  how  is  it  that  the  British  inhabitants 
who  used  iron  and  had  it  in  abundance  have  left 
no  mark  of  their  occupancy  of  Dartmoor?  It  can 
be  accounted  for  only  on  the  supposition  that  they 
did   not   value   it.     The    woods   had   been   thinned 

29 


30    THE  ANCIENT  INHABITANTS 

and  they  preferred  the  lowlands,  whereas  in  the 
earlier  period  the  dense  forests  that  clothed  the 
country  were  too  close  a  jungle  and  too  much  infested 
by  wolves  to  be  suitable  for  the  habitation  of  a 
pastoral  people. 

That  under  the  Roman  domination  the  tin  was 
worked  on  the  moor  there  is  no  evidence  to  show. 
No  Roman  coins  have  been  found  there  except 
a  couple  brought  by  French  prisoners  to  Princetown. 

It  may  be  said  that  iron  would  corrode  and 
disappear,  whereas  flint  is  imperishable,  and  bronze 
nearly  so.  But  where  is  Roman  pottery?  Where 
is  even  the  pottery  of  the  Celtic  period?  An  era 
is  distinguished  by  its  fictile  ware.  A  huge  gap  in 
historic  continuity  is  apparent.  All  the  earthenware 
found  on  Dartmoor  is  either  prehistoric  or  mediaeval, 
probably  even  so  late  as  the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 

No  indication  is  found  that  the  Saxons  worked  the 
tin  or  even  drove  their  cattle  on  to  the  moor.  In 
Domesday  Book  Dartmoor  is  not  even  mentioned. 
It  is  hard  to  escape  the  conclusion  that  from  the 
close  of  the  prehistoric  period  to  that  of  our  Plan- 
tagenet  kings,  Dartmoor  was  avoided  as  a  waste, 
inhospitable  region. 

Of  man  in  the  earliest  period  at  which  he  is  known 
to  have  existed — the  so-called  Palaeolithic  man — not 
a  trace  has  been  found  on  Dartmoor.  Probably  when 
he  lived  in  Britain  the  whole  upland  was  clothed  in 
snow.  He  has  left  his  tools  in  the  Brixham  and 
Torquay  caves — none  in  the  bogs  of  the  moor. 
Indeed,  when  these  bogs  have  been  dug  into,  there 
are  not  the  smallest  indications  found  of  man  having 


PRIMEVAL    INHABITANTS        31 

visited  the  moor  before  the  advent  of  what  is  called 
the  Neolithic  Age. 

About  the  man  of  this  period  I  must  say  some- 
thing, as  he  in  his  day  lived  in  countless  swarms  on 
this  elevated  land.  He  may  have  lived  also  in  the 
valleys  of  the  lowlands,  but  his  traces  there  have 
been  obliterated  by  the  plough.  First  of  all  as  to 
his  personal  appearance.  He  was  dark-haired,  tall, 
and  his  head  was  long,  like  that  of  a  new-born  child, 
or  boat-shaped,  a  form  that  disappears  with  civilisa- 
tion, and  resolves  itself  into  the  long  face  instead  of 
the  long  head. 

At  some  period,  vastly  remote,  a  great  migration 
of  a  long-headed  race  took  place  from  Central  Asia. 
It  went  forth  in  many  streams.  One  to  the  east 
entered  Japan  ;  probably  the  Chinese  and  Anamese 
represent  another.  But  we  are  mainly  concerned 
with  the  western  outpour.  It  traversed  Syria,  and 
Gilead  and  Moab  are  strewn  with  its  remains,  hut 
circles,  dolmens,  and  menhirs  identical  with  those 
on  Dartmoor.  Hence  one  branch  passed  into  Arabia, 
where,  to  his  astonishment,  Mr.  Palgrave  lighted  on 
replicas  of  Stonehenge.* 

*  '*  Hardly  had  we  descended  the  narrow  path,  when  we  saw  before 
us  several  huge  stones,  like  enormous  boulders,  placed  endways  per- 
pendicularly, on  the  soil,  while  some  of  them  yet  upheld  similar  masses, 
laid  transversely  over  their  summit.  They  were  arranged  in  a  curve 
once  forming  part,  it  would  appear,  of  a  large  circle,  and  many  other  like 
fragments  lay  rolled  on  the  ground  at  a  moderate  distance  ;  the  number 
of  those  still  upright  was,  to  speak  by  memory,  eight  or  nine.  Two, 
at  about  ten  or  twelve  feet  apart  one  from  the  other,  and  resembling 
huge  gateposts,  yet  bore  their  horizontal  lintel,  a  long  block  laid 
across  them  ;  a  few  were  deprived  of  their  upper  traverse,  the  rest 
supported  each  its  headpiece  in  defiance  of  time  and  the  more  de- 


32    THE  ANCIENT  INHABITANTS 

Another  branch  threw  itself  over  the  Himalayas, 
and  covered  India  with  identical  monuments.  Again 
another  turned  west ;  it  traversed  the  Caspian  and 
left  innumerable  traces  along  the  northern  slopes  of 
the  Caucasus.  The  Kuban  valley  is  crowded  with 
their  dolmens.  They  occupied  the  Crimea,  and  then 
struck  for  the  Baltic.  That  a  branch  had  passed 
through  Asia  Minor  and  Greece,  and  constituted 
itself  as  the  Etruscan  power  in  Italy,  is  probable  but 
not  established.  The  northern  stream  strewed  Meck- 
lenburg and  Hanover  with  its  remains,  occupied 
Denmark  and  Lower  Sweden,  crossed  into  Britain, 
and  took  complete  possession  of  the  British  Isles. 
Other  members  of  the  same  swarm  skirted  the 
Channel  and  crowded  the  plateaux  and  moors  of 
Western  and  Central  France  with  their  megalithic 
remains.  The  same  people  occupied  Spain  and 
Portugal,  the   Balearic   Isles,  Corsica  and   Sardinia, 


structive  efforts  of  man.  So  nicely  balanced  did  one  of  these  cross- 
bars appear,  that  in  hope  it  might  prove  a  rocking-stone,  I  guided  my 
camel  right  under  it,  and  then,  stretching  up  my  riding-stick  at  arm's 
length,  could  just  manage  to  touch  and  push  it ;  but  it  did  not  stir. 
Meanwhile  the  respective  heights  of  camel,  rider,  and  stick,  taken 
together,  vv^ould  place  the  stone  in  question  full  fifteen  feet  from  the 
ground.  These  blocks  seem,  by  their  quality,  to  have  been  hewed 
from  the  neighbouring  limestone  cliffs  and  roughly  shaped,  but  present 
no  further  trace  of  art,  no  groove  or  cavity  of  sacrificial  import,  much 
less  anything  intended  for  figure  or  ornament.  The  people  of  the 
country  attribute  their  erection  to  the  Darim,  and  by  his  own  hands 
too,  seeing  that  he  was  a  giant.  Pointing  towards  Rass,  our  com- 
panions affirmed  that  a  second  and  similar  stone  circle,  also  of  gigantic 
dimensions,  existed  there ;  and,  lastly,  they  mentioned  a  third  towards 
the  south-west,  that  is,  in  the  direction  of  Henakeeyah." — Palgrave, 
Narrative  of  a  Year's  Journey  through  Central  Arabia ^  1865,  vol.  i 
p.   251. 


THE    NEOLITHIC    MAN  ^2> 

and  Northern  Africa,  and  are  now  represented  by 
the  Koumirs  and  Kabyles.  To  this  race  the  name 
of  Iberian,  Ivernian,  or  Silurian  has  been  given.  It 
contributed  its  name  to  Ireland  (Erin  or  I  erne),  where 
it  maintained  itself,  but  was  known  to  the  conquering 
Gaels  as  the  Tuatha  da  Danann  and  Firbolgs,  two 
branches  of  the  same  stock.  The  name  of  Damnonia 
given  to  Devon  is  probably  due  to  these  same 
Danann,  who  were  also  found  in  the  south  of  Scot- 
land. When  this  great  people  reached  Europe,  Japan, 
India,  Africa,  before  its  branches  had  begun  to  ramify 
to  east  and  west,  to  south  and  north,  its  religious 
doctrines  and  its  practices  had  become  stereotyped, 
and  almost  ineradicably  ingrained  into  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  entire  stock. 

If  we  desire  to  understand  what  their  peculiar 
views  were,  what  were  the  dominant  ideas  which 
directed  their  conduct,  and  which  led  them  to  erect 
the  monuments  which  are  marvels  to  us,  even  at  the 
present  day,  we  must  go  to  China. 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  into  China  at  the  present 
day.  At  first  sight,  the  Chinese  strike  us  as  being 
not  only  geographically  our  antipodes,  but  as  being 
our  opposites  in  every  particular  —  mental,  moral, 
social ;  in  language  as  in  ideas. 

The  Chinese  language  is  without  an  alphabet  and 
without  a  grammar.  It  is  made  up  of  monosyllables 
that  acquire  their  significance  by  the  position  in 
which  they  are  placed  in  a  sentence.  In  customs 
the  Chinese  differ  from  us  as  much.  In  mourning 
they  wear  white ;  a  Chinese  dinner  begins  with  the 
dessert  and  ends  with  the  soup;  a  scholar,  to  recite 

D 


34    THE  ANCIENT  INHABITANTS 

his  lessons,  turns  his  back  on  the  teacher.  But  it 
is  chiefly  in  the  way  in  which  the  living  and  the 
dead  are  regarded  as  forming  an  indissoluble 
commonwealth,  that  the  difference  of  ideas  is  most 
pronounced.  Regard  for  the  dead  is  the  first  obli- 
gation to  a  Chinese.  A  man  of  the  people  who 
is  ennobled,  ennobles,  not  his  descendants,  but  his 
ancestry.  The  duty  of  the  eldest  son  of  the  family 
is  to  maintain  the  worship  of  the  ancestors.  Denial 
of  a  sepulchre  is  the  most  awful  punishment  that 
can  be  inflicted ;  a  Chinese  will  cheerfully  commit 
suicide  to  gain  a  suitable  tomb  and  cult  after  death. 
The  most  sacred  spot  on  earth  is  the  mausoleum, 
and  that  is  perpetually  inviolable.  Consequently,  if 
this  principle  could  be  carried  out  to  the  letter,  the 
earth  would  be  transformed  into  one  vast  necropolis, 
from  the  occupation  of  which  the  living  would  be 
in  time  entirely  excluded.  It  is  this  respect  for 
graves  which  stands  in  the  way  of  the  execution 
of  works  of  public  utility,  such  as  canals  and 
railroads ;  and  it  is  the  imperious  obligation  of 
maintaining  the  worship  of  ancestors  that  blocks  con- 
version to  Christianity.  It  is  resentment  against  lack 
of  respect  shown  to  the  dead,  neglect  of  duty  to  the 
dead,  which  has  provoked  the  massacres  of  Christians. 
A  Chinese,  under  certain  circumstances,  is  justified 
in  strangling  his  father,  but  not  in  omitting  to  wor- 
ship him  after  he  has  throttled  him. 

On  the  great  Thibet  plateau,  geographically  con- 
tiguous to  the  Chinese,  and  under  the  Empire  of 
China,  the  Mongol  nomads  are  so  absolutely  devoid 
of  a  grain  of  respect  for  their  dead,  that,  without 


THE    NEOLITHIC   MAN  35 

the  smallest  scruple,  they  leave  the  corpses  of  their 
parents  and  children  on  the  face  of  the  desert,  to  be 
devoured  by  dogs  and  preyed  on  by  vultures. 

If  we  look  at  the  Nile  valley  we  see  that  the 
ancient  Egyptians  were  dominated  by  the  same 
ideas  as  the  Chinese.  To  them  the  tomb  was  the 
habitation  par  excellence  of  the  family.  Of  the 
dwelling-houses  of  the  old  Egyptians  the  remains 
are  comparatively  mean,  but  their  mausoleums  are 
palatial.  The  house  for  the  living  was  but  as  a 
tent,  to  be  removed ;  but  the  mansion  of  the  dead 
was  a  dwelling-place  for  ever. 

Not  only  so,  but  just  as  the  ancient  Egyptian 
supposed  that  the  Ka^  the  soul,  or  one  of  the  souls 
of  the  deceased,  occupied  the  monument,  tablet,  or 
obelisk  set  up  in  memorial  of  the  dead,  so  does  the 
Chinese  now  hold  that  a  soul,  or  emanation  from 
the  dead,  enters  into  and  dwells  in  the  memorial 
set  up,  apart  from  the  tomb,  to  his  honour. 

Now  if  we  desire  to  discover  what  was  the  dis- 
tinguishing motive  in  life  of  the  long-headed  Neolithic 
man,  we  shall  find  it  in  his  respect  for  the  dead ;  and 
he  has  stamped  his  mark  everywhere  where  he  has 
been  by  the  stupendous  tombs  he  has  erected,  at 
vast  labour,  out  of  unwrought  stones.  He  cannot 
be  better  described  than  as  the  dolmen-builder;  that 
is  to  say,  the  man  who  erected  the  family  or  tribal 
ossuaries  that  remain  in  such  numbers  wherever  he 
has  planted  his  foot. 

In  China,  it  is  true,  there  are  no  dolmens,  but  for 
this  there  is  a  reason.  Before  the  descendants  of  the 
Hundred  Families  who  entered  the  Celestial  Empire 


36    THE  ANCIENT  INHABITANTS 

had  reached  and  obtained  possession  of  mountains 
whence  stone  could  be  quarried,  many  centuries 
elapsed,  and  forced  the  Chinese  to  make  shift  with 
other  material  than  stone,  and  so  formed  their  habit 
of  entombment  without  stone ;  but  the  frame  of 
mind  which,  in  a  rocky  land,  would  have  prompted 
them  to  set  up  dolmens  remained  unchanged,  and  so 
remains  to  the  present  day. 

The  exploration  of  dolmens  in  Europe  reveals  that 
they  were  family  or  tribal  burial-places,  and  were 
used  for  a  long  continuance  of  time.  The  dead  to 
be  laid  in  them  were  occasionally  brought  from  a 
distance,  as  the  bones  show  indication  of  having 
been  cleaned  of  the  flesh  with  flint  scrapers,  and 
to  have  been  rearranged  in  an  irregular  and  un- 
scientific manner,  a  left  leg  being  sometimes  applied 
to  a  right  thigh;  or  it  may  be  that  on  the  anniver- 
sary of  an  interment  the  bones  of  the  deceased  were 
taken  out,  scraped  and  cleaned,  and  then  replaced. 

In  Algeria,  and  on  the  edge  of  the  Sahara,  are 
found  great  trilithons,  that  is  to  say,  two  huge  up- 
right stones,  with  one  laid  across  at  the  top,  forming 
doorways  leading  to  nothing,  but  similar  to  those 
which  are  found  at  Stonehenge. 

What  was  this  significance  ? 

We  turn  to  the  Chinese  for  an  explanation,  and 
find  that  to  this  day  they  erect  triumphal  gates — not 
now  of  stone,  but  of  wood — in  memory  of  and  in 
honour  of  such  widows  as  commit  suicide  so  as  to  join 
their  dear  departed  husbands  in  the  world  of  spirits. 
On  the  other  hand,  our  widows  forget  us  and  remarry. 

The  dolmen-builders  were  people  with  flocks  and 


IMPLEMENTS 


Zl 


herds,  and  who  cultivated  grain  and  spun  yarn. 
Their  characteristic  implement  is  the  so-called  celt, 
in  reality  an  axe,  sometimes  perforated  for  the  re- 
ception of  a  handle,  most  commonly  not.  The 
perforation  belongs  to  the  latest  stage  of  Neolithic 
civilisation.      Their    weapons,   or    tools,    were    first 


FLINT  ARROW-HEADS. 

(Actual  size.) 


ground.  In  about  a  score  of  places  in  France  polish- 
ing rocks  exist,  marked  with  the  furrows  made  by 
the  axe  when  worked  to  and  fro  upon  them,  and 
others  that  are  smaller  have  been  removed  to 
museums.  At  Stoney-Kirk,  in  Wigtownshire,  a 
grinding-stone  of  red  sandstone,  considerably  hol- 
lowed by  use,  was  found  with  a  small,  unfinished 
axe  of  Silurian  schist  lying  upon  it     In  the  recent 


38    THE  ANCIENT  INHABITANTS 

exploration  of  hut  circles  at  Legis  Tor  a  grindstone 
was  found  in  one  of  the  habitations,  and  on  it  an 
incomplete  tool  that  was  abandoned  there  before 
it  was  finished. 

After  grinding,  these  implements  underwent  labori- 
ous polishing  by  friction  with  the  hand  or  with 
leather. 

At  the  same  time  that  these  artificially  smoothed 
tools  were  fabricated,  flint  was  used,  beautifully 
chipped  and  flaked,  to  form  arrow  and  spear  heads 
and  swords.  The  arrow-heads  are  either  leaf-shaped 
or  tanged. 

The  pottery  of  the  dolmen-builders  is  very  rude. 
It  is  made  of  clay  mingled  with  coarse  fragments 
of  stone  or  shell,  is  very  thick  and  badly  tempered  ; 
it  is  hand-made,  and  seems  hardly  capable  of  enduring 
exposure  to  a  brisk  fire.  The  vessels  have  usually 
broad  mouths,  with  an  overhanging  rim  like  a  turned- 
back  glove-cuff,  and  below  this  the  vessel  rapidly 
slopes  away.  The  ornamentation  is  constant  every- 
where. It  consisted  of  zigzags,  chevrons,  depressions 
made  by  twisted  cord,  and  finger-nail  marks  in  rings 
round  the  bowls  or  rims.  It  was  not  till  late  in  the 
Bronze  Age  that  circles  and  spirals  were  adopted. 

Celtic  ornamentation  is  altogether  different. 

Whilst  the  long-headed  dolmen-builder  crept  along 
the  coast  of  Europe,  there  was  growing  up  among 
the  mountains  and  lakes  of  Central  Europe  a  hardy 
round-headed  race — the  Aryan,  destined  to  be  his 
master.  Was  it  through  instinct  of  what  was  to  be, 
that  the  Ivernian  shrank  from  penetrating  into  the 
heart  of  the  Continent,  and  clung  to  the  seaboard  ? 


THE   GAEL  39 

When  the  dolmen-builder  arrived  in  Britain,  to 
the  best  of  our  knowledge,  he  found  no  one  there. 
On  the  Continent,  on  the  other  hand,  if  he  went 
far  inland,  he  not  only  clashed  with  the  Aryan 
round-heads,  but  also  here  and  there  stumbled  on 
the  lingering  remains  of  the  primeval  Palaeolithic 
people,  who  have  left  their  remains  in  England  in 
the  river-drift,  and  in  Devon  in  the  Brixham  caves 
and  Kent's  Hole. 

The  dolmen-builder  has  persisted  in  asserting 
himself.  Though  cranial  modifications  have  taken 
place,  the  dusky  skin,  and  the  dark  eyes  and  hair 
and  somewhat  squat  build,  have  remained  in  the 
Western  Isles,  in  Western  Ireland,  in  Wales,  and  in 
Cornwall.  It  is  still  represented  in  Brittany.  It  is 
predominant  in  South- Western  France,  and  is  typical 
in  Portugal. 

After  a  lapse  of  time,  of  what  duration  we  know 
not,  a  great  wave  of  Aryans  poured  from  the 
mountains  of  Central  Europe,  and,  traversing  Britain, 
occupied  Ireland.  This  was  the  Gael.  This  people 
subjugated  the  Ivernian  inhabitants,  and  rapidly 
mixed  with  them,  imposing  on  them  their  tongue, 
except  in  South  Wales,  where  the  Silurian  was 
found  to  have  retained  his  individuality  when  con- 
quered by  Agricola  in  A.D.  y8.  But  if  the  Gaelic 
invaders  subjugated  the  Ivernians,  they  were  in  turn 
conquered  by  them,  though  in  a  different  manner. 
The  strongly  marked  religious  ideas  of  the  long- 
headed men,  and  their  deeply  rooted  habit  of 
worship  of  ancestors,  impressed  and  captured  the 
imagination    of    their    masters,    and    as    the    races 


40    THE  ANCIENT  INHABITANTS 

became  fused,  the  mixed  race  continued  to  build 
dolmeni^.and  erect  other  megaHthic  monuments  once 
characteristic  of  the  long-heads,  often  on  a  larger 
scale  than  before.  Stonehenge  and  Avebury  were 
erections  of  the  Bronze  Period,  and  late  in  it,  and  of 
the  composite  people. 

If  we  look  at  the  physique  of  the  two  races,  we 
find  a  great  difference  between  them.  The  Ivernian 
was  short  in  stature,  with  a  face  mild  in  expression, 
oval,  without  high  cheek-bones,  and  without  strongly 
characterised  supraciliary  ridges.  The  women  were 
all  conspicuously  smaller  than  the  men,  and  of 
markedly  inferior  development.  The  conquering 
race  was  other.  The  lower  jaw  was  massive  and 
square  at  the  chin,  the  molar  bones  prominent, 
and  the  brows  heavy.  The  head  was  remarkably 
short,  and  the  face  expressed  vigour,  was  coarse, 
and  the  aspect  threatening.  Moreover,  the  women 
were  as  fully  developed  as  the  men,  so  much  so  that 
where  all  the  bones  are  not  present  it  is  not  always 
easy  to  distinguish  the  sex  of  a  skeleton  of  this  race. 
What  Tacitus  says  of  the  German  women — that  they 
are  almost  equal  to  the  men  both  in  strength  and  in 
size — applies  also  to  these  round-headed  invaders  of 
Britain  ;  and,  indeed,  what  we  are  assured  of  the 
Britons  in  the  time  of  Boadicea,  that  it  was  solituvt 
femmanim  ductu  bellare,  shows  us  that  the  same 
masculine  character  belonged  to  the  women  of 
British  origin.  The  average  difference  in  civilised 
races  in  the  stature  of  men  and  women  at  present 
is  about  four  inches,  but  twice  this  difference  is 
very  usually  found  to  exist  between  the  male  and 


INTRODUCTION    OF    IRON       41 

female  skeletons  of  the  Polished  Stone  Period  in 
the  long  barrows.  The  difference  is  even  more 
strikingly  shown  by  a  comparison  of  the  male  and 
female  collar-bones  ;  and  we  are  able  to  reproduce 
from  them  in  picture  the  Neolithic  woman  of  the 
Ivernian  race,  with  narrow  chest  and  drooping 
shoulders,  utterly  unlike  the  muscular  and  vigorous 
Gaelic  women  who  were  true  consorts  to  their  men 
when  they  came  over  to  conquer  the  island  of  Britain. 

After  a  lapse  of  time  the  long  head  began  to  re- 
assert itself,  and  the  infusion  of  its  blood  into  the 
veins  of  the  dominant  race  led  to  great  modifica- 
tion of  its  harshness  of  feature.  When  iron  was 
introduced  into  Britain,  whether  by  peaceable  means 
or  whether  by  the  second  Aryan  invasion,  that  of 
the  Cymri  or  Britons,  we  do  not  know,  but  when 
Caesar  landed  in  Britain,  B.C.  55,  he  found  that  iron 
was  in  general  use. 

The  second  Aryan  invasion  alluded  to  was  that  of 
the  true  Britons.  They  also  came  from  the  Alps, 
where  they  had  lived  on  platforms  constructed  on  the 
lakes.  They  occupied  the  whole  of  Britain  proper, 
but  not  Scotland,  and  made  but  attempts  to  effect 
a  landing  in  Ireland. 

They  were  entirely  out  of  sympathy  with  the 
original  race  and  its  ideas,  and  did  not  assimilate 
their  religion  and  adopt  their  practices  as  had  the 
Gaels. 

The  distinction  between  the  two  branches  of  the 
great  Celtic  family  is  mainly  linguistic.  Where  the 
British  employed  the  letter  p,  the  Gael  used  the 
hard  c,  pronounced  like  k.    For  instance.  Pen,  a  head, 


42    THE  ANCIENT  INHABITANTS 

in  British,  is  Cen  in  Gaelic ;  and  we  can  roughly  tell 
where  the  population  was  British  by  noticing  the 
place  names,  such  as  those  beginning  with  Pen. 
When  these  were  Gaels,  the  same  headlands  would 
begin  with  Cen. 

"  By  Tre,  Pol,  and  Pen 
You  know  the  names  of  Cornishmen," 

and  this  at  once  decides  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
western  peninsula  were  not  Gaels. 

From  the  lakes  of  Switzerland  the  Britons  had 
brought  with  them  their  great  aptitude  for  wattle- 
work.  They  built  their  houses  and  halls,  not  of 
stone,  but  of  woven  withies.  C^sar  says  that  they 
were  wont  to  erect  enormous  basket-work  figures, 
fill  them  with  human  victims,  and  burn  the  whole  as 
sacrifices  to  their  gods.  It  is  a  curious  coincidence 
that  on  some  of  the  old  Celtic  crosses  are  found 
carved  imitations  of  men  made  of  wicker  -  work. 
These  represent  saints  made  of  the  same  material 
and  in  the  same  manner  by  the  same  people,  after 
they  had  embraced  Christianity  and  abandoned 
human  sacrifices.* 

Let  us  try  to  imagine  what  was  the  mode  of  life 
of  those  people  who  raised  their  monuments  on 
Dartmoor.  They  were  pastoral,  but  they  also 
certainly  had  some  knowledge  of  tillage.  In  certain 
lights,  hillsides  on  the  moor  show  indications  of 
having  been  cultivated  in  ridges,  and  this  not  with 
the   plough,  but  with   the  spade.      We  cannot   say 

*  Archaologia,  vol.  1.  PI.  2  (1887). 


THEIR   MODE    OF    LIFE         43 

that  these  belong  to  the  early  population,  but  as 
they  are  found  near  their  settlements  it  is  possible 
that  they  may  be  traces  of  original  cultivation. 
But  we  know  from  the  remains  of  grain  found 
in  the  habitations  and  tombs  of  the  same  people 
in  limestone  districts  that  they  were  acquainted  with 
cereals,  and  their  grindstones  have  been  found  on 
Dartmoor  in  their  huts. 

Still,  grain  was  not  the  main  element  of  their  diet ; 
they  lived  chiefly  on  milk  and  flesh.  In  the  huts 
have  been  found  broad  vessels  that  were  covered 
with  round  discs  of  slate,  and  it  is  probable  that 
these  were  receptacles  for  milk  or  butter,  but  the 
milk  would  mainly  be  contained  in  wooden  or 
leathern  vessels.  Elsewhere  their  spindle -whorls 
have  been  found  in  fair  abundance ;  not  so  on  Dart- 
moor— as  yet  only  two  have  been  recovered.  This 
shows  that  little  spinning  was  done,  and  no  weights 
such  as  are  used  by  weavers  have  been  found.  The 
early  occupants  were  in  the  main  clothed  in  skins. 

Their  huts  were  circular,  of  stone,  with  very 
frequently  a  shelter  wall,  opposed  to  the  prevailing 
south-west  wind,  screening  the  door,  which  opened 
invariably  to  the  south  or  south-west.  The  whole 
was  roofed  over  by  poles  planted  on  the  walls, 
brought  together  in  the  middle,  and  thatched  over 
with  rushes  or  heather.  The  walls  were  rarely  above 
four  feet  six  inches  high.  They  are  lined  within 
with  large  stones,  set  up  on  end,  their  smooth 
surfaces  inwards,  and  the  stone  walls  were  backed 
up  with  turf  without,  making  of  the  huts  green 
mounds.     This   gave  occasion   to  the  fairy  legends 


44    THE  ANCIENT   INHABITANTS 

of  the  Celts,  who  represented  the  earlier  population 
as  living  in  mounds,  which  the  Irish  called  sidi,  and 
the  people  occupying  them  the  Tuatha  da  Danann. 
As  already  said,  this  same  name  meets  us  in  Damnonii, 
the  oldest  appellation  for  the  people  of  Devon.  They 
were  a  sociable  people,  clustering  together  for  mutual 
protection  m.  pounds. 

These  pounds  are  large  circular  inclosures,  the  walls 
probably  only  about  four  feet  high,  but  above  this 
was  a  breastwork  of  turf  or  palisading.  Outside  the 
pound  were  huts,  perhaps  of  guards  keeping  watch. 

Many  of  the  huts  have  paddocks  connected  with 
them,  as  though  these  latter  had  been  kail  gardens, 
but  some  of  these  paddocks  are  large  enough  to 
have  been  tilled  for  corn.  Their  plough,  if  they  used 
one,  was  no  more  than  a  crooked  beam,  drawn  by 
oxen.  It  is  possible  that  the  numerous  sharp  flakes 
of  flint  that  are  found  were  employed  fastened  into 
a  sort  of  harrow,  as  teeth.  Their  cooking  was  done 
either  in  pots  sunk  in  the  soil,  or  in  holes  lined 
with  stones. 

Rounded  pebbles,  water-worn,  were  amassed,  and 
baked  hot  in  the  fire,  then  rolled  to  the  "cooking- 
hole,"  in  which  was  the  meat,  and  layers  of  hot 
stones  and  meat  alternated,  till  the  hollow  receptacle 
was  full,  and  the  whole  was  then  covered  with  sods 
till  the  flesh  was  cooked. 

The  following  account  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
Fiana,  the  Irish  militia,  did  their  cooking  in  pre- 
Christian  times  will  illustrate  this  custom  : — 

"  When  they  had  success  in  hunting,  it  was  their  custom 
in  the  forenoon  to  send  their  huntsman,  with  what  they 


THE    HUTS 


45 


had  killed,  to  a  proper  place,  where  there  was  plenty  of 
wood  and  water ;  there  they  kindled  great  fires,  into  which, 
their  way  was,  to  throw  a  number  of  stones,  where  they 
continued  till  they  were  red  hot ;  then  they  applied  them- 
selves to  dig  two  great  pits  in  the  earth,  into  one  of  which, 
upon  the  bottom,  they  were  wont  to  lay  some  of  these  hot 


FLINT  SCRAPERS. 
(Actual  size.) 


Stones  as  a  pavement,  upon  them  they  would  place  the 
raw  flesh,  bound  up  hard  in  green  sedge  or  bulrushes ; 
over  these  bundles  was  fixed  another  layer  of  hot  stones, 
then  a  quantity  of  flesh,  and  this  method  was  observed  till 
the  pit  was  full.  In  this  manner  their  flesh  was  sodden  or 
stewed  till  it  was  fit  to  eat,  and  then  they  uncovered  it; 
and,  when  the  hole  was  emptied,  they  began  their  meal."* 

*  Keeting    History  of  Ireland  (ed.  O'Connor,  Dublin,    1841),   i. 
p.  293. 


46    THE  ANCIENT  INHABITANTS 

Some  of  the  huts  are  very  large,  and  in  these  no 
traces  of  fires  and  no  cooking-holes  have  been  found. 
Adjoining  them,  however,  are  smaller  huts  that  are  so 
full  of  charcoal  and  peat  ash  and  fragments  of  pottery 
that  no  doubt  can  be  entertained  that  these  were  the 
kitchens,  and  the  large  huts  were  summer  habitations. 

Occasionally  a  small  hut  has  been  found  with  a 
large  hole  in  the  centre  crammed  with  ashes  and 
round  stones,  the  hole  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 


COOKING-POT. 


size  of  the  hut  if  considered  as  a  habitation.  No 
reasonable  doubt  can  be  entertained  that  these  were 
bath  huts.  The  Lapps  still  employ  the  sweating- 
houses.  They  pour  water  over  hot  stones,  and  the 
steam  makes  them  perspire  profusely,  whereupon 
they  shampoo  themselves  or  rub  each  other  down 
with  birch  twigs. 

Indeed,  men  wearing  skin  dresses  are  obliged  to  go 
through  some  such  a  process  to  keep  their  pores  in 
healthy  action. 


TRACKLINES  47 

It  is  very  probable  that  the  long  tracklines  that 
extend  over  hill  and  vale  on  Dartmoor  indicate  tribal 
boundaries,  limits  beyond  which  the  cattle  of  one 
clan  might  not  feed.  Some  of  these  lines,  certainly 
of  the  age  of  the  Neolithic  men  of  the  hut  circles, 
may  be  traced  for  miles.  There  is  one  that  starts 
apparently  from  the  Plym  at  Trowlesvvorthy  Warren, 
where  are  clusters  of  huts  and  inclosures.  It  follows 
the  contour  of  the  hills  to  Pen  Beacon,  where  it 
curves  around  a  collection  of  huts  and  strikes  for 
the  source  of  the  Yealm  by  two  pounds  containing 
huts.  That  it  went  further  is  probable,  but  recent 
inclosures  have  led  to  its  destruction.  We  cannot  be 
sure  of  the  age  of  these  tracklines  unless  associated 
with  habitations,  as  some  very  similar  have  been 
erected  in  recent  times  as  reeves  delimiting  mining 
rights. 

That  the  occupants  of  the  moor  at  this  remote 
period  loved  to  play  at  games  is  shown  by  the 
numbers  of  little  round  pebbles,  carefully  selected, 
some  for  their  bright  colours,  that  have  been  found 
on  the  floors  of  their  huts.  That  they  used  divina- 
tion by  the  crystal  is  shown  by  clear  quartz  prisms 
having  been  discovered  tolerably  frequently.  These 
are  still  employed  among  the  Australian  natives  for 
seeing  spirits  and  reading  the  future. 

That  these  early  people  were  monogamists  is  prob- 
able from  the  small  size  of  their  huts ;  they  really 
could  not  have  accommodated  more  than  one  wife 
and  her  little  family. 

That  they  were  a  gentle,  peaceable  people  is  also 
apparent  from  the  rarity  of  weapons  of  war.    Plenty  of 


48    THE  ANCIENT  INHABITANTS 

flint  scrapers  are  found  for  cleaning  the  hides,  plenty 
of  rubber-stones  for  smoothing  seams,  plenty  of  small 
knives  for  cutting  up  meat,  but  hardly  a  spear-head, 
and  arrow-heads  are  comparatively  scarce.  Their 
most  formidable  camp  is  at  Whit  Tor,  the  soil  of 
which  is  littered  with  flint  chips.  It  did  not,  on 
exploration,  yield  a  single  arrow-head.  The  pounds 
were  inclosed  to  protect  the  sheep  and  young  cattle 
against  wolves,  not  to  save  the  scalps  of  their  owners 
from  the  tomahawks  of  their  fellow-men. 

With  regard  to  the  numbers  of  people  who  lived 
on  Dartmoor  in  prehistoric  times,  it  is  simply 
amazing  to  reflect  upon.  Tens  of  thousands  of 
their  habitations  have  been  destroyed  ;  their  largest 
and  most  populous  settlements,  where  are  now  the 
"  ancient  tenements,"  have  been  obliterated,  yet  tens 
of  thousands  remain.  At  Post  Bridge,  within  a 
radius  of  half  a  mile,  are  fifteen  pounds.  If  we 
give  an  average  of  twenty  huts  to  a  pound,  and 
allow  for  habitations  scattered  about,  not  inclosed 
in  a  pound,  and  give  six  persons  to  a  hut,  we  have 
at  once  a  population,  within  a  mile,  of  2,000  persons. 

Take  Whit  Tor  Camp,  To  man  the  wall  it  would 
require  500  men.  Allow  to  each  man  five  non- 
combatants  ;  that  gives  a  population  of  2,500. 
There  are  pounds  and  clusters  of  hut  circles  in 
and  about  Whit  Tor  that  still  exist,  and  would  have 
contained  that  population.  Take  the  Erme  valley, 
high  up  where  difficult  of  access  ;  the  number  of  huts 
there  crowded  on  the  hill  slopes  is  incredible.  On 
the  height  is  a  cairn,  surrounded  by  a  ring  of  stones, 
from    which   leads   a   line   of    upright   blocks   for  a 


A   CAIRN 


49 


distance  of   10,840  feet.      Allow  two  feet  apart  for 
the  stones,  that  gives  5,420  stones.     If,  as  is  probable, 


FLINT  SCRAPERS. 
(Actua    size. 


each  stone  was  set  up  by  a  male  member  of  a  tribe, 
in  honour  of  his  chief  who  was  interred  in  the  cairn, 
we  are  given  by  this  calculation  a  population  of  over 

E 


50    THE  ANCIENT  INHABITANTS 

21,000,  allowing  three  children  and  a  female  to  each 
male. 

But  numerous  though  these  occupants  of  the  moor 
must  have  been,  they  must  have  been  wretchedly- 
poor.  The  vast  majority  of  their  graves  yield 
nothing    but   a   handful   of   burnt   ash,   not  a   pot- 


FRAGMENT  OF   COOKING-rOT. 


sherd,  not  a  flint -chip,  and  the  grave  of  a  chief 
only  a  little  blade  of  bronze  as  small  as  a  modern 
silver  pocket  fruit-knife. 

That  they  were  a  peaceable  people  I  have  no 
manner  of  doubt,  for  there  are  absolutely  no  forti- 
fied hilltops  on  the  moor,  which  there  assuredly 
would  be  were  the  denizens  of  that  upland  region 
in  strife  one  with  another.  What  camps  there  are 
may  be  found  on  the  fringe,  Whit  Tor,  Dewerstone, 
Hembury,   Holne,  Cranbrook,   Halstock,  as   against 


A   PEACEABLE    PEOPLE  51 

invaders.  That  they  were  a  happy  people  I  can- 
not doubt.  They  were  uncivilised :  and  the  Tree 
of  Knowledge,  under  high  culture,  bears  bitter 
fruit  for  the  many  and  drips  with  tears,  but  it 
bears  nuts — only  for  the  few. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE   ANTIQUITIES 

Innumerable  relics  on  Dartmoor — Small  in  size — Great  destruction 
of  them  that  has  taken  place — Lake-head  Hill  thus  devastated — 
Classification  of  the  remains — i.  The  dolmen,  an  ossuary — 2.  The 
kistvaen — Great  numbers,  all  rifled — 3.  The  stone  circle — possibly 
a  crematorium — 4.  The  stone  row — Astonishing  numbers  still  ex- 
isting— 5.  The  menhir — In  Christian  times  becomes  a  cross — 
Story  of  S.  Caennech — Dartmoor  crosses — Altar  tombs — 6.  Hut 
circles— All  belong  to  one  period— 7.  The  tracklines — 8.  The 
pounds— 9.  The  cairns— 10.  The  camps— 11.  Rude  stone  bridges, 
comparatively  modern. 

AS  already  intimated,  the  antiquities  found  on 
Dartmoor  belong  almost  exclusively  to  the 
Prehistoric  Period.  The  few  exceptions  are  the 
crosses  and  the  blowing-houses.  These  shall  be 
spoken  of  in  other  chapters.  In  this  we  will  con- 
fine ourselves  to  a  general  review  of  the  relics  left 
to  show  how  that  the  moor  was  occupied  by  a  large 
population  in  the  early  Bronze  Period. 

Now,  although  these  relics  are  very  numerous, 
they  are  none  of  them  megalithic,  that  is  to  say, 
very  huge.  And  this  for  two  reasons.  In  the 
first  place  it  is  uncertain  whether  the  people  oc- 
cupying the  moor  ever  did  erect  any  huge  stones, 
like  the  Stonehenge  monsters,  or  the  enormous 
dolmens  of  Brittany,  and  above  all  of  the  sand- 
stone districts  of  the  Loire. 

52 


RELICS    ON    DARTMOOR         53 

In  the  second  place,  in  the  fifteenth  and  first 
half  of  the  sixteenth  centuries  the  great  bulk  of 
the  churches  round  Dartmoor  were  rebuilt,  and  in 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  the  manor 
houses,  bartons,  and  farms  were  also  reconstructed, 
and  then  for  the  first  time  since  the  sixth  century 
was  granite  employed  in  ecclesiastical  and  domestic 
architecture.  The  builders  delighted  in  selecting 
huge  stones.  They  employed  monoliths  for  their 
pillars ;  each  door  and  window  had  a  single  stone 
on  each  side  as  a  jamb,  and  a  single  stone  as  a 
base ;  two  stones  above  were  used  for  the  arch  of 
every  door  and  window.  The  amount  of  granite 
of  a  large  size  carried  away  from  the  moor  is 
really  prodigious,  and  no  large  monument  was 
likely  to  have  been  spared. 

Then  came  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  cen- 
turies, when  granite  was  in  demand  for  gateposts, 
and  every  standing  stone  serviceable  was  ruthlessly 
carried  away.  Almost  every  circle  of  upright  stones 
has  lost  some  of  its  finest  blocks  in  this  way,  and  all 
that  is  left  to  show  where  they  were  is  the  hole  cut 
in  the  "  calm  "  from  which  they  were  extracted,  and 
the  spalls  or  chips  made  by  the  quarrymen  as  they 
knocked  the  block  into  shape.  At  Sherberton  was 
a  fine  circle :  the  three  largest  stones  have  been  em- 
ployed a  few  yards  off  as  gateposts,  and  two  others 
have  been  cast  down. 

Next  came  the  newtake-wall  builders.  The 
ravage  they  have  wrought  is  incalculable.  In  1848 
S.  Rowe  published  his  Perambulation  of  Dai^tmoor, 
and  gave  an  illustration  of  double  stone  rows  that 


54  THE   ANTIQUITIES 

ran  from  the  Longstone,  near  Caistor  Rock,  for  half 
a  mile  to  the  Teign.  In  185 1  I  planned  them.  A  few 
years  ago  a  farmer  built  a  newtake  wall,  and  used 
the  rows  as  his  quarry ;  nothing  now  is  left  of  them 
but  a  few  insignificant  stones  he  did  not  consider 
worth  his  while  to  remove.  The  stones  are  in  the 
wall,  and  can  be  recognised,  and  the  socket-holes  can 
all  be  traced,  with  a  spade. 

There  was  a  row  or  set  of  rows  of  stones  on  a 
common  near  Leusden.  In  1898  the  road-menders 
destroyed  it  and  employed  the  stones  for  the  repair 
of  the  Ashburton  highway. 

Now  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  old  rude  stone 
monument  builders  did  not  erect  really  mighty  struc- 
tures on  Dartmoor,  but  it  is  still  more  likely  that  all 
such  as  were  of  any  size  have  been  carried  away. 
Lake-head  Hill,  near  Post  Bridge,  must  at  one  time 
have  been  a  veritable  necropolis.  The  farmer  at 
Believer  was  given  his  holding  on  a  rent  that  was 
to  be  mainly  paid  by  inclosing  newtakes,  and  re- 
pairing old  walls.  For  six  years  he  was  employed 
in  clearing  Lake-head  Hill  of  all  the  stones  he  could 
find.  Thousands  of  loads  were  removed,  and  it  is 
only  by  a  lucky  chance  that  one  or  two  kistvaens 
have  escaped.  Three  pounds  with  their  huts,  prob- 
ably scores  of  kistvaens,  and  certainly  several  stone 
rows,  have  been  obliterated  by  this  man.  In  185 1 
I  drew  the  finest  moor  kistvaen  at  Merrivale  Bridge. 
The  covering  stone  measured  9  feet  3  inches  by 
4  feet  9  inches.  In  1891  a  man  at  Merrivale  Bridge 
wanting  a  gatepost,  cut  one  out  of  the  capstone  and 
left  only  two  scraps  in  situ. 


THE    DOLMEN  55 

Considering  the  ruthless  manner  in  which  these 
monuments  of  a  hoar  antiquity  have  been  carried 
away  or  destroyed,  it  is  a  marvel  that  any  remain  ; 
but  then,  this  devastation  explains  why  those  allowed 
to  remain  are  such  only  as  were  considered  too  in- 
significant to  offer  inducement  to  the  plunderer. 
The  late  Mr.  Bennett,  of  Archerton,  when  inclosing 
and  planting,  utilised  a  fine  pound  for  a  clump  of 
beech.  The  old  inclosing  ring  was  used  up  to  make 
a  wall  for  the  protection  of  the  young  trees,  and 
these  latter,  in  growing,  threw  all  the  huts  that  had 
not  been  despoiled  out  of  shape  and  into  inextricable 
confusion. 

Let  us  now  take  in  their  order  such  monuments 
as  remain,  and  I  will  say  a  few  words  about  each 
kind. 

I.  Of  the  characteristic  dolmeUy  which  we  in 
England  perhaps  improperly  call  cromlech,  we  have 
but  a  single  good  example,  that  at  Drewsteignton. 
The  dolmen  was  the  family  mausoleum.  It  is  com- 
posed of  several  large  slabs  set  upright  in  box-form, 
and  covered  with  one  or  more  large  stones,  flat  on 
the  under  side.  These  were  probably  all  originally 
covered  with  earth,  but  in  course  of  time  the  earth 
has  been  washed  or  trodden  away.  In  some  cases 
the  dolmen  becomes  the  allee  couverte,  a  long  cham- 
ber or  hall  constructed  of  uprights  and  coverers. 
The  most  magnificent  example  is  that  at  Saumur, 
on  the  Loire,  which  is  over  62  feet  long  and  13  feet 
wide,  and  high  enough  for  a  tall  man  to  walk  about 
in  it  with  ease. 

In  these  the  dead  were  interred,  not  burnt,  and 


56  THE   ANTIQUITIES 

their  bones  seem  to  have  been  taken  out  on 
anniversaries,  scraped,  and  then  replaced ;  and  re- 
moter ancestors  were  huddled  into  the  background 
to  make  room  for  new-comers. 

In  time  the  fashion  for  carnal  interment  gave  way 
to  one  for  cremation. 

Now  of  the  large  dolmen  or  cromlech  we  have 
only  the  fine  Drewsteignton  example,  and  that 
deserves  a  visit.  Formerly  it  was  but  one  of  a 
number  of  monuments,  lines  and  circles  of  upright 
stones.  All  these  have  been  destroyed  in  this 
century. 

But  although  this  is  the  sole  remaining  example, 
we  know  by  place  names  that  anciently  there  were 
many  more.  These  monuments  have  everywhere  a 
local  designation.  In  France  they  are  pierres  levees 
or  cabannes  des  fees.  In  Devon  they  were  shelf- 
stones,  and  wherever  we  meet  with  a  farm  called 
Shilston,  there  we  may  confidently  assert  that  a 
dolmen  formerly  existed.  With  a  little  search  the 
portions  of  it  may  occasionally  be  recognised  in 
pigsties,  or  worked  into  the  structure  of  the  house. 

The  parish  of  Bradstone  derives  its  name  from 
the  broad  coverer  of  a  cromlech,  which  is  now  em- 
ployed as  a  stile.  The  supporters  have  disappeared, 
used  probably  for  the  church.  There  is  a  shilstone 
in  Bridestowe,  and  another  in  Modbury.  In  dolmens 
it  is  usual  to  have  a  hole  in  the  end  stone,  and  even. 
sometimes  closed  with  a  stone  plug,  or  else  a  small 
stone  is  employed  that  could  easily  be  removed,  so 
as  to  enable  those  who  desired  it  to  enter  and  put 
therein  food  for  the  consumption  of  the  dead,  or  to 


THE    KISTVAEN  57 

remove  the  remains  for  the  annual  scraping,  or  again 
for  the  introduction  of  a  fresh  tenant. 

2.  When  carnal  interment  gave  way  to  incinera- 
tion, at  once  the  need  for  large  mausoleums  ceased, 
and  mourners  saved  themselves  the  labour  of  erecting 
huge  cromlechs,  and  contented  themselves  instead 
with  the  more  modest  kistvaen,  or  stone  chest.  This 
is  constructed  in  precisely  the  same  manner  as  the 
dolmen,  but  is  much  smaller.  A  beautiful  diminu- 
tive example,  from  Peter  Tavy  Common,  has  been 
transported  to  the  Plymouth  Municipal  Museum.  It 
measures  21  inches  long,  13  inches  wide,  and  14 
inches  deep.  On  Dartmoor  there  are  many  hundreds 
of  these  kistvaens,  of  various  sizes,  but  most  have 
been  rifled  by  treasure-seekers ;  indeed,  all  but  such 
as  were  covered  with  earth  and  so  escaped  observa- 
tion have  been  plundered. 

The  kistvaens  were  always  buried  under  cairns, 
and  almost  invariably  a  circle  of  stones  surrounded 
the  cairn,  marking  its  bounds. 

The  finest  kistvaens  are — one  at  Merrivale  Bridge, 
one  adjoining  a  pound  near  Post  Bridge,  one  on 
Lake -head  Hill,  one  near  Drizzlecombe,  one  on 
Hound  Tor,  and  two  on  the  slope  of  Believer.  One 
is  near  the  Powder  Mills.  There  are  several,  also, 
about  the  Plym. 

3.  The  stone  circle  is  called  by  the  French  a 
cromlech.  The  name  means  curved  stone.  The 
circle,  of  which  Stonehenge  is  the  noblest  known 
example  in  Europe,  consists  of  a  number  of  stones 
set  up  at  intervals  in  a  ring.  The  purport  is  purely 
conjectural.  Undoubtedly  interments  have  been  made 


58  THE   ANTIQUITIES     ' 

within  them;  but  none,  so  far,  have  been  found  in 
those  on  Dartmoor.  In  the  great  circle  on  Penmaen- 
mawr  there  were  burials  at  the  foot  of  several  of  the 
monoliths,  and,  indeed,  one  of  these  served  as  the 
backstone  of  a  kistvaen. 

Among  semi-barbarous  tribes  it  is  customary  that 
the  tribe  should  have  its  place  of  assembly  and  con- 
sultation, and  this  is  marked  round  by  either  stones 
or  posts  set  up  in  the  ground.  Among  some  of  the 
great  clan  circles,  if  one  of  the  constituent  tribes  fails 
to  send  its  representative,  the  stone  set  up  where  he 
would  sit  is  thrown  down. 

The  areas  within  the  circles  on  Dartmoor,  so  far 
as  they  have  been  examined,  show  that  great  fires 
have  been  lighted  in  them ;  the  floors  are  thickly 
bedded  in  charcoal.  It  may  be  that  they  were  the 
crematoria  of  the  tribe,  and  certainly  numerous 
cairns  and  kistvaens  are  to  be  found  around  them  ; 
or  it  may  be  that  great  fires  were  lighted  in  them 
when  the  tribe  met  for  its  parliament,  or  its  games 
and  war-dances.  It  has  been  noticed  that  usually 
these  circles  of  upright  stones  are  placed  on  the  neck 
of  land  between  two  rivers. 

Some  have  speculated  that  they  were  intended  for 
astronomical  observation,  and  for  determining  the 
solstices ;  but  such  fancies  may  be  dismissed  till  we 
have  evidence  of  their  being  erected  and  employed 
for  such  a  purpose  by  some  existing  savage  race. 

The  Samoyeds  were  wont  to  make  circles  of  stones 
of  rude  blocks  set  up,  and  these  are  still  to  be  seen 
in  the  districts  they  inhabit ;  and  although  these 
people  are  nominally  Christians,  yet  they  are  secretly 


THE   STONE   CIRCLE  59 

addicted  to  their  old  paganism.     Mr.  Jackson,  in  his 
Great  Frozen  Land  (London,  1895),  says  : — 

"The  rings  of  stones  which  I  frequently  met  with  in 
Waigatz  are  the  sites  of  their  midnight  services,  and  are 
made,  of  course,  by  the  Samoyeds.  They  are  called 
yon-pa-ha-pai.  It  is  possible  that  within  these  circles 
the  human  sacrifices  with  which  Samoyeds  used  to  pro- 
pitiate Chaddi  were  offered  up;  and,  although  these  are 
things  of  the  past  now,  it  is  only  a  few  years  ago  that 
a  Samoyed,  living  in  Novaia  Zemlia,  sacrificed  a  young 
girl"  (p.  89). 

A  tradition  or  fancy  relative  to  more  than  one 
of  these  circles  is  that  the  stones  represent  maidens 
who  insisted  on  dancing  on  a  Sunday,  and  were,  for 
their  profanity,  turned  into  stone  when  the  church 
bells  rang  for  divine  service.  It  is  further  said  that 
on  May  Day  or  Midsummer  Day  they  dance  in  a 

ring- 
There  are  several  of  these  circles  on  the  moor. 
The  finest  are  those  of  Scaur  Hill,  near  Chagford, 
of  the  Grey  Wethers — two  side  by  side,  but  most 
of  the  stones  of  one  are  fallen  —  the  circle  on 
Langstone  Moor  above  Peter  Tavy,  Trowlesworthy, 
Sherberton,  and  Fernworthy.  The  diameters  vary 
from  thirty-six  feet  to  three  hundred  and  sixty. 
One  that  must  have  been  very  fine  was  near 
Huccaby,  but  most  of  the  stones  constituting  it 
have  been  removed  for  the  construction  of  a  wall 
hard  by. 

The  number  of  stones  employed  varies  according 
to  the  area  inclosed. 


6o  THE   ANTIQUITIES 

4.  The  stone  7'ow  is  almost  invariably  associated 
with  cairns  and  kistvaens,  and  clearly  had  some 
relation  to  funeral  rites.  The  stone  settings  are 
often  single,  sometimes  double,  or  are  as  many  as 
eight.  They  do  not  always  run  parallel  ;  they  start 
from  a  cairn,  and  end  with  a  blocking-stone  set  across 
the  line.  In  Scotland  they  are  confined  to  Caithness. 
The  finest  known  are  at  Carnac,  in  Brittany.  It  is 
probable  that  just  as  a  Bedouin  now  erects  a  stone 
near  a  fakir's  tomb  as  a  token  of  respect,  so  each 
of  these  rude  blocks  was  set  up  by  a  member  of  a 
tribe,  or  by  a  household,  in  honour  of  the  chief  buried 
in  the  cairn  at  the  head  of  the  row. 

It  is  remarkable  how  greatly  the  set  stones  vary  in 
size.  Some  are  quite  insignificant,  and  could  be 
planted  by  a  boy,  while  others  require  the  united 
efforts  of  three,  four,  or  even  many  men,  with  modern 
appliances  of  three  legs  and  block,  to  lift  and  place 
them  in  position.  This  seems  to  show  that  the  rows 
are  not  the  result  of  concerted  design,  but  of  in- 
dividual execution  as  the  ability  of  the  man  or 
family  permitted  to  set  up  a  stone  large  or  small. 
Usually  the  largest  stones  are  planted  near  the  cairn, 
and  they  dwindle  to  the  blocking-stone,  which  is  of 
respectable  size. 

There  is  no  district  known  so  rich  in  stone  rows  as 
Dartmoor.  As  many  as  fifty  have  been  observed.  The 
finest  are  those  of  Drizzlecombe,  where  there  are 
three  double  rows,  not  parallel ;  Down  Tor,  a  single 
line ;  Merrivale  Bridge,  two  parallel  double  rows,  but 
the  stones  constituting  them  small  ;  Stall  Moor,  a 
single  line  that  looks  like  a  procession  of  cricketers 


THE    STONE    ROW  6i 

in  flannels  stalking  over  the  moor ;  Challacombe ;  at 
Glazebrook  are  thirteen  rows  ;  also  Staldon  Moor. 
Some  of  these  rows  which  are  small  are  nevertheless 
instructive.  On  the  north  slope  of  Cosdon  is  a  cairn 
that  originally  contained  three  kistvaens,  one  of  which 
is  perfect,  one  exists  in  part,  and  evidence  of  the 
existence  of  the  third  was  found  on  exploration. 
From  this  cairn  start  three  rows  of  stones,  one  for 
each  kistvaen.  A  remarkably  perfect  set  of  stone 
rows  is  on  Watern  Hill,  behind  the  Warren  Inn,  on 
the  road  from  Post  Bridge  to  Moreton.  It  is  actually 
visible  from  the  road,  but  as  the  stones  are  small 
it  does  not  attract  attention.  It  starts  from  a  cairn 
and  a  tall  upright  stone  set  at  right  angles  to  the 
rows,  which  are  brought  to  a  termination  by  blocking- 
stones.  Another  perfect  row  is  at  Assacombe,  start- 
ing from  a  cairn  with  two  or  three  big  upright  stones, 
and  running  down  a  rather  steep  hill  to  a  blocking- 
stone  which  remains  intact. 

The  longest  of  all  the  rows  is  that  on  Staldon, 
which  springs  from  a  circle  of  59  feet  9  inches  in 
diameter,  inclosing  the  remains  of  a  cairn,  runs  with 
a  single  line  for  two  miles  and  a  quarter,  and  crosses 
the  Erme  river.  Had  a  straight  line  been  followed, 
an  obstruction  in  the  precipitous  bank  of  the  river 
would  have  been  encountered,  to  avoid  which  the 
builders  of  this  great  monument  took  a  sweep  east- 
ward, where  the  bank  was  more  sloping.  In  the 
Cosdon  lines  of  stones  already  referred  to,  the  rows 
waver  so  as  to  avoid  a  platform  of  rock  in  which  the 
constructors  were  unable  to  plant  their  stones. 

At  Drizzlecombe  there  is  a  cairn  with  which  is 


62  THE   ANTIQUITIES 

connected  a  row  260  feet  long,  with  an  upright  stone 
17  feet  9  inches  high  at  the  end  of  the  row. 

All  sorts  of  random  guesses  have  been  made 
about  these  rows.  Some  have  made  them  out  to  be 
sacred  air  si,  where  races  were  run,  but  then  some 
lines  are  single,  some  are  eightfold.  Others. have 
supposed  that  these  were  the  supporting  stones  to 
cattle  sheds,  but  these  stones  are  often  not  more  than 
2  feet  6  inches  high,  and  the  rows  often  run  for  over 
600  feet. 

We  must,  as  already  said,  look  to  present  usage 
for  their  interpretation,  and  that  afforded  by  the 
practice  of  the  Khassias  of  the  Brahmapootra,  and 
by  the  Bedouin,  seems  the  simplest — stones  set  up 
as  memorials  or  tributes  of  respect  to  the  dead  man 
who  is  buried  at  the  head  of  the  row. 

There  would  seem  to  have  been  no  feeling  attached 
to  the  direction  in  which  these  lines  run. 

One  singular  feature  is  that  in  several  cases  a 
second  row  starts  off  from  a  small  cairn  in  or  close 
to  the  main  row,  and  runs  away  in  quite  a  different 
direction.* 

5.  The  menhir,  or  tall  stone,  is  a  rude,  un- 
wrought  obelisk.  In  some  cases  it  is  nothing  other 
than  the  starting  or  the  blocking  stone  of  a  row 
which  has  been  destroyed.  This  is  the  case  with 
that  at  Merrivale  Bridge.  But  such  is  not  always 
the  case.  There  were  no  rows  in  connection  with 
the  menhirs  on  Devil  Tor  and  the  Whitmoor 
Stone. 

That  the  upright  block  is  a  memorial  to  the  dead 

*  Merrivale  Bridge,  Har  Tor,  and  Longstone,  near  Caistor  Rock. 


THE    MENHIRS  63 

can  hardly  be  doubted ;  it  was  continued  to  be 
erected,  with  an  inscription  on  it,  in  Romano-British 
times,  and  its  modern  representative  is  in  every 
churchyard. 

The  menhirs,  locally  termed  longstones,  or  lang- 
stones,  must  at  one  time  have  been  numerous. 
There  was  a  langstone  near  Sourton,  another  by 
Tavistock,  one  at  Sheeps  Tor,  others  by  Modbury ; 
these  stones  have  disappeared  and  have  left  but 
their  names  to  tell  where  they  once  stood.  One 
on  Peter  Tavy  Common  gave  its  title  to  the  moor 
which  the  Ordnance  surveyors  have  rendered  Laun- 
ceston  Moor.  The  stone  is  at  one  end  of  a  row,  and 
served  as  a  waymark  over  the  down.  It  had  fallen, 
but  is  re-erected. 

But  there  are  still  a  good  many  remaining.  The 
tallest  is  one  already  referred  to  at  Drizzlecombe. 
Bairdown  Man  {inaen  =  3.  stone)  is  by  Devil  Tor  in 
a  singularly  desolate  spot.  We  have  none  compar- 
able to  the  Devil's  Arrows  at  Boroughbridge  in 
Yorkshire — but  the  best  have  been  carried  away 
to  serve  as  monolithic  church  pillars. 

The  Chinese  hold  that  the  spirits  of  the  dead 
inhabit  the  memorials  set  up  in  their  honour;  and 
the  carved  monoliths  in  Abyssinia,  erected  by  the 
race  when  it  passed  from  Arabia  to  Africa,  have 
carved  in  their  faces  little  doors,  for  the  ingress  and 
egress  of  the  spirits.  Holed  menhirs  are  found  in 
many  places.  I  know  one  in  France,  La  Pierre 
Fiche,  near  Pouance  (Maine-et-Loire),  where  such  a 
little  door  or  window,  intended  for  the  popping  out 
and  in  of  the  spirit,  has  been    utilised  to  hold  an 


64  THE    ANTIQUITIES 

image  of  the  Virgin,  and  has  been  barred  to  prevent 
the  statue  making  off  or  being  made  off  with. 

In  Irish  post-Christian  records  there  is  frequent 
allusion  to  the  early  saints  carrying  about  their  lechs 
(flat  stones)  with  them,  to  be  set  up  over  them  when 
dead,  and  this  explains  the  fantastic  stories  after- 
wards told  of  saints  as  of  having  crossed  from 
Ireland  to  Wales,  or  Cornwall,  or  Brittany  floating 
on  stones.  In  the  original  record  it  was  related  that 
the  saint  came  over  with  his  lech,  and  a  later  redactor 
of  the  story  converted  this  into  coming  on  it,  as  a 
raft.  The  lech  was  cut  into  a  cross  when  the  Celts 
became  Christians,  or  crosses  were  inscribed  on  them. 
Some  of  the  most  fantastic  of  the  saints,  when 
travelling  over  the  country,  would  not  sit  down  to 
dinner  till  they  had  visited  and  prayed  at  all  the 
crosses  set  up  over  tombs  anywhere  near. 

A  pretty  story  is  told  of  S.  Cainnech.  Bishop 
Aed's  sister  had  been  carried  off  by  Colman 
MacDermot,  King  of  the  Hy  Niall,  and  he  refused 
to  surrender  her.  Aed  went  to  Cainnech  with  his 
grievance,  and  Cainnech  at  once  resolved  on  inter- 
vention. Colman  had  retired  to  an  island  in  the 
Ross  Lake,  or  Marsh,  and  shrewdly  suspecting  that 
the  saint  would  administer  a  lecture,  he  removed  the 
boats  to  the  island  fort  or  crannoge.  However,  Cain- 
nech was  not  to  be  deterred,  and  managed  to  wade 
or  swim  across.  Subdued  by  his  pertinacity,  the 
king  surrendered  the  girl. 

Many  years  after,  one  winter  day,  Cainnech  was 
traversing  a  moor,  when  he  noticed  a  rude  stone 
cross,  on  the  head  and  arms  of  which  the  snow  lay 


DARTMOOR   CROSSES  65 

in  a  crust.  He  halted  to  inquire  whose  cross  that 
was,  and  learned  that  it  had  been  erected  on  the  spot 
where  King  Colman  had  been  assassinated  some 
years  previously.  Cainnech  at  once  went  to  the  lech, 
leaned  his  brow  .against  it,  and   as  he  recalled   the 


Cross,  Whitchurch  Down. 


interviews  he  had  had  with  the  king,  and  thought 
on  his  good  as  well  as  his  bad  qualities,  his  outbursts 
of  violence,  and  his  accesses  of  compunction,  the  old 
man's  tears  began  to  flow,  and  his  disciples  noticed 
the  snow  melting  and  dripping  from  the  arms  of  the 
cross,  thawed  by  the  tears  of  the  venerable  abbot. 
Now  see  how  many  rugged  crosses  there  are  on 

F 


66  THE    ANTIQUITIES 

Dartmoor!  Some  certainly  are  waymarks,  others 
as  surely  indicate  graves.  Would  that  we  knew  the 
tales  connected  with  them  ! 

Then  go  into  any  churchyard  and  observe  the 
tombstones.  We  are  children  of  the  men  who  set 
up  menhirs,  and  we  do  the  same  thing  to  this  day, 
though  the  stones  we  erect  are  mean  and  small  com- 
pared with  the  great  standing  monoliths  they  set  up 
to  their  dead. 

In  many  of  the  churches  around  the  moor  are 
monuments  that  derive  from  the  cromlech  and  kist- 
vaens  as  certainly  as  does  the  modern  tombstone 
from  the  menhir.  The  graveyard  of  Sourton  was 
rich  in  these  great  slabs  standing  on  four  supporters. 
A  late  rector  who  "  restored "  Sourton  church,  and 
supposed  he  did  God  service  by  so  doing,  threw  all 
these  down  and  employed  the  slabs  as  pavement  to 
the  church  paths ;  he  placed  the  supporters  outside 
in  the  village  for  anyone  to  carry  off  as  he  listed. 

The  finest  menhirs  on  Dartmoor  are  —  one  at 
Drizzlecombe,  the  Langstone  near  Caistor  Rock, 
the  Whitmoor  Stone,  the  Bairdown  Man,  the  Lang- 
stone  at  Merrivale,  and  that  on  Langstone  Moor, 
Peter  Tavy.  There  must  have  been  numbers  more, 
for  their  former  presence  is  testified  to  by  many 
place  names.  They  have  been  carried  off,  and  it 
is  matter  of  wonder  that  any  remain. 

6.  Hut  circles.  The  cairn  and  kistvaen  were 
the  places  of  burial  of  the  dead,  but  the  hut  circles 
were  the  habitations  of  the  living.  So  many  of  them 
have  been  dug  out  during  the  last  six  years,  that  we 
may   safely  draw  conclusions   as   to   the   period   to 


HUT    CIRCLES 


67 


which  they  belong.  They  were  occupied  by  the 
NeoHthic  population  that  at  one  time  thickly  covered 
Dartmoor. 

In  the  Archceologia  of  1875  is  an  account  of  the 


^}m\\Mif^M 


HL/T.I>. 


/fair   0f   7rcT 


exploration  of  a  set  of  hut  circles  near  Bintley, 
Northumberland,  and  this  revealed  successive  occu- 
pation by  Celts  (?)  of  the  Bronze  Age ;  then  Romano- 
British,  .who  left  fragments  of  Samian  ware  and  a 


68  THE   ANTIQUITIES 

bronze  horse  -  buckle ;  lastly  by  Saxons,  who  left 
behind  an  iron  sword. 

Not  a  trace  of  continuous  occupation  has  been 
found  in  any  circle  explored  on  Dartmoor.  All 
belong  to  the  early  Bronze  Period,  when  flint  was 
the  principal  material  of  which  tools  and  weapons 
were  fabricated. 

Some  account  of  these  huts  has  been  already 
given.  They  usually  have  a  raised  platform  on  the 
side  that  is  towards  the  hill,  and  the  circle  bulges 
at  this  point  to  give  additional  space  on  this  plat- 
form. It  was  probably  used  as  a  bed  by  night,  and 
was  sat  upon  by  day.  In  one  hut  at  Grimspound 
the  platform  was  divided  into  two  compartments. 
In  some  instances,  small  upright  stones  planted  in 
the  floor  show  that  the  platform  was  made  of  logs 
and  brushwood,  held  in  place  by  these  projections. 
The  stone  platforms  on  the  other  hand  were  paved. 

The  doorways  into  the  huts  are  composed  of  single 
upright  stones  as  jambs,  with  a  threshold  and  a 
lintel,  this  latter  always  fallen,  and  often  found 
wedged  between  the  uprights.  The  floor  within  is 
paved  near  the  door,  but  there  only ;  the  rest  consists 
of  hard  beaten  soil.  Occasionally  a  shelter  wall 
protects  the  entrance  from  the  prevailing  wind.  The 
huts  must  have  been  entered  on  all-fours ;  the  door- 
ways are  never  higher  than  three  feet  six  inches, 
usually  less.  The  huts  have  hearthstones  much 
burnt  or  broken,  but  occasionally  hollows  lined  with 
stones  full  of  ashes.  Cooking-holes  are  sunk  in  the 
floor  near  the  hearths,  and  piles  of  cooking-stones 
are  found  at  hand  much  cracked  by  fire.     Sometimes 


CIRCLE     N9VII 


ELEVATION   OF   ENTRANCE 


(j.ii.lAr(a' 


HUT  CIRCLE,    GRIMSPOUND. 


70  THE   ANTIQUITIES 

a  flat  stone  is  found  bedded  in  the  soil  near  the  centre 
to  support  a  pole  that  sustained  the  roof.  In  some 
instances  a  hole  has  been  discovered  sunk  in  the 
floor  near  the  middle,  with  the  charred  remains  of 
the  bottom  end  of  the  post  in  it. 

In  the  cooking-holes  have  been  found  cooking-pots 
made  by  hand  of  the  coarsest  clay,  usually  round  at 
the  bottom  ;  where  not  round,  with  transverse  ridges 
of  thick  clay  forming  a  cross  to  strengthen  the 
bottom.  These  pots  were  too  fragile  to  stand  the 
action  of  fire  on  a  hearth,  and  served  by  having 
meat  and  red-hot  stones  placed  in  them.  Conse- 
quently they  do  not  show  signs  of  exposure  to 
strong  fire  externally,  and  are  black  with  animal 
matter  within,  which  may  be  extracted  by  means 
of  a  blowpipe. 

One  found  at  Legis  Tor  had  been  cracked  and 
was  mended  with  china-clay.  It  had  a  cooking-stone 
in  it.  There  would  seem  to  have  been  in  use  as  well 
shallower  vessels  that  were  covered  with  round  slate 
discs.  None  of  these  have  been  recovered  whole. 
Possibly  they  were  employed  to  hold  curd  or  butter. 

Occasionally  round  stones,  flat  on  one  side  and 
convex  on  the  other,  have  been  disinterred  in  the 
huts.  They  served  to  protect  the  apex  of  the  roof, 
where  the  poles  were  drawn  together,  from  the  action 
of  the  rain,  which  would  rot  them,  as  well  as  to 
prevent  the  rain  from  entering  at  this  point.  An 
example  of  a  stone  of  the  same  character  employed 
for  this  very  purpose  may  be  seen  in  actual  use 
on  a  thatched  circular  pounding-house  on  Berry 
Down,  near  Throwleigh. 


THE   TRACKLINES  71 

Not  a  single  quern  has  been  found  in  a  hut,  and 
this  indicates  that  the  occupants  neither  grew  nor 
ground  corn  extensively.*  They  lived  mainly  on 
milk  and  meat.  Numerous  rubber-stones  have  been 
unearthed  that  served  for  smoothing  the  seams  of 
skin  clothing  sewn  together ;  and  plenty  of  flint 
scrapers  that  turn  up  show  that  the  skins  employed 
for  garments  were  previously  carefully  scraped  and 
cleaned.  Esquimaux  women  chew  the  leather  to  get 
it  flexible,  and  then  rub  it  with  similar  smoothers 
of  stone. 

7.  Tracklines  in  abundance  are  everywhere  found, 
made  of  stones,  but  without  close  investigation  it  is 
not  possible  to  determine  to  what  period  they  belong. 

8.  Paved  roads  exist ;  the  main  road  across  the 
moor  has  been  traced  from  Wray  Barton  in  Moreton 
Hampstead,  by  Berry  Pound  to  Merripit,  by  Post 
Bridge,  and  thence  on  to  Mis  Tor.  From  some- 
where near  the  Powder  Mills  a  branch  struck  off*  in 
the  direction  of  Princetown,  aiming  probably  for 
Tamerton,  but  it  has  been  obliterated  by  the  prison 
inclosures.  A  raised  paved  road  leaves  the  camp 
above  Okehampton  Station  and  takes  a  direction  due 
south,  but  cannot  be  traced  far.  That  these  ways 
were  not  Roman  is  tolerably  certain.  The  ancient 
Britons  drove  chariots  with  wheels,  and  where 
wheeled  conveyances  were  in  use,  there  roads  are 
postulated. 

9.  The  cairns  that  are  abundant,  and  were  of 
considerable  size,  have  nearly  all  been  ransacked  by 
treasure-seekers.      Only  such  as  were  too  small  to 

*  Querns  have  been  found,  but  none  in  prehistoric  habitations. 


72  THE   ANTIQUITIES 

attract  attention  have  escaped.  They  are  mounds  of 
earth  and  stone  over  a  pit  sunk  in  the  original  soil,  or 
over  a  kistvaen.  Usually  they  contain  a  handful  of 
ashes  only;  they  rarely  yield  more.  One,  however,  on 
Hamildon  surrendered  a  bronze  knife  with  amber 
handle  and  rivets  of  gold.  Others  have  given  up 
small  knives  of  bronze,  and  urns  of  the  character- 
istic shape  and  ornamentation  of  the  Bronze  Age. 
In  one,  on  Fernworthy  Common,  was  found  a  thin 
blade  of  copper,  along  with  a  flint  knife,  a  large 
button  of  horn,  and  a  well-ornamented  urn. 

A  cairn  surrounded  by  a  circle  of  stones,  and 
containing  a  kistvaen,  near  Princetown,  is  called 
"  The  Crock  of  Gold,"  a  name  that  may  be  due 
to  a  vessel  of  the  precious  metal  having  been  found 
in  it. 

One  thing  is  obvious,  the  enormous  labour  of 
exploring  the  larger  cairns  would  not  have  been 
undertaken  unless  previous  ransackings  had  yielded 
valuable  results.  Some  of  the  cairns  must  have 
been  huge,  and  have  taken  many  men  several  days 
in  clearing  out  their  interiors.  About  these  cairns 
I  shall  say  a  good  deal  in  a  chapter  apart. 

10.  Of  camps  there  are  two  kinds,  those  constructed 
of  stone  and  those  of  earth.  I  reserve  what  I  have 
to  say  about  these  to  a  separate  chapter. 

11.  The  old  stone  bridges,  composed  of  rude  slabs 
cast  across  an  opening  to  a  pier,  also  rudely  con- 
structed, have  been  attributed  to  "the  Druids,"  of 
course.  There  is  nothing  to  indicate  for  these  a 
great  antiquity.  They  belong  to  the  period  of  pack- 
horses,  and    were   doubtless   often    repaired.     Those 


RUDE    STONE    BRIDGES         73 

at  Dartmeet,  and  Post  Bridge,  and  Two  Bridges 
— this  last  has  disappeared  —  were  in  the  line  of 
the  pack-horse  track,  and  not  in  that  of  the  paved 
way  across  the  moor. 

The  rude  bridge  at  Okery  in  like  manner  is  in  the 
pack-horse  line  of  way,  which  is  indicated  between 
Princetown  and  Merrivale  Bridge  by  rude  posts  of 
granite  set  up  at  intervals. 


CHAPTER  V. 
THE   FREAKS 

Lucubrations  of  antiquaries  in  past  times — How  their  imagination  led 
them  astray — Rock  idols — Logan  stones— Who  originated  the  idea 
that  they  were  oracular — Rock  basins— Tolmens — The  difference 
between  the  modern  system  of  archaeological  research  and  that  which 
it  has  supplanted. 

IT  would  be  amusing  were  it  not  melancholy  to 
read  the  lucubrations  of  antiquaries  of  the  early 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century  on  the  relics  of  the 
past  found  in  such  abundance  on  the  moor.  Their 
imagination  played  a  large  part  in  their  researches, 
and  references  to  curious  customs  in  the  Bible  or 
in  classic  writings  were  drawn  in  to  explain  these 
relics.  The  antiquaries  lacked  the  faculty  of  ob- 
serving accurately,  and  instead  of  labouring  to  accu- 
mulate facts,  and  recording  them  with  precision, 
employed  them  as  pegs  on  which  to  hang  their 
theories,  and  they  whittled  at  what  they  did  observe, 
so  as  to  fit  what  they  saw  to  elucidate  these  theories. 

In  rambling  over  the  moor  they  discovered  rock 
idols,  logan  stones,  rock  basins,  and  tolmens,  and 
entered  into  long  dissertations  on  their  employment 
for  worship,  oracles,  lustrations,  and  ordeals. 

There  are,  indeed,  to  be  seen  curious  piles  of  rock, 
but  none  of  these  are  artificial,  and  there  is  not  a 

74 


BOWERMAN  S   NOSE 


•    o      t>     >   •         -> 

3       3    )     i        J        3        > 


)  J  3 


LOGAN    STONES  75 

particle  of  evidence  that  any  of  them  received 
idolatrous  worship.  Bowerman's  Nose  is  the  most 
remarkable,  perhaps.  Carrington,  the  poet  of  Dart- 
moor, thus  describes  it : — 

"On  the  very  edge 
Of  the  vast  moorland,  startling  every  eye, 
A  shape  enormous  rises  !     High  it  towers 
Above  the  hill's  bold  brow,  and  seen  from  far. 
Assumes  the  human  form  ;  a  granite  god, — 
To  whom,  in  days  long  flown,  the  suppliant  knee 
In  trembling  homage  bow'd." 

It  stands  up,  a  core  of  hard  granite,  forty  feet  high, 
in  five  layers  above  a  "clitter,"  the  softer  masses 
that  have  fallen  off  from  it.  Had  it  ever  been 
venerated  as  an  idol,  the  worshippers  would  assuredly 
have  done  something  towards  clearing  this  clitter 
away,  so  as  to  give  themselves  a  means  of  easy 
access  to  their  idol,  and  some  turf  on  which  to 
kneel  in  adoration. 

Another  remarkable  pile  is  Vixen  Tor,  present- 
ing from  one  point  a  resemblance  to  the  Sphinx. 
Not  a  single  relic  of  early  man  is  in  its  immediate 
neighbourhood.  We  can  hardly  doubt  that  pre- 
historic man  was  not  as  big  a  fool  as  we  suppose 
him,  and  that  he  was  quite  able  to  see  that  Bower- 
man's  Nose  and  Vixen  Tor  were  natural  objects  as 
truly  as  the  tors  on  the  hilltops. 

The  logan  stones  on  the  moor  are  numerous, 
and  these,  also,  are  natural  formations.  The  granite 
weathers  irregularly;  a  hard  bed  alternates  with  one 
that  is  soft,  and  the  wind  and  rain  eat  into  the 
more  crumbling   layer  and    gnaw   it   away,  till   the 


^e  THE    FREAKS 

harder  superincumbent  mass  rests  on  one  or  two 
points.  Either  it  topples  over  and  becomes  one 
more  block  in  a  clitter,  or  it  remains  balanced,  and, 
if  fairly  evenly  balanced,  can  be  made  to  rock  like 
a  cradle. 

Here  is  a  specimen  of  tall  twaddle  from  the  hand 
of  Mrs.  Bray  or  the  Rev.  E.  Atkyns  Bray,  her 
husband  : — 

"  There  must  have  been  a  more  than  ordinary  feeling  of 
awe  inspired  in  the  mind  of  the  criminal  by  ascending 
heights  covered  with  a  multitude,  to  whose  gaze  he  was 
exposed,  as  he  drew  nigh  and  looked  upon  these  massive 
rocks,  the  seat  of  divine  authority  and  judgment.  How 
imposing  must  have  been  the  sight  of  the  priesthood  and 
their  numerous  trains,  surrounded  by  all  the  outward  pomps 
and  insignia  of  their  office ;  as  he  listened  to  the  solemn 
hymns  of  the  vates,  preparatory  to  the  ceremonial  of  justice ; 
or  as  he  stepped  within  the  sacred  inclosure,  there  to 
receive  condemnation  or  acquittal,  to  be  referred  to  the 
ordeal  of  the  logan,  or  the  tolmen,  according  to  the  will 
of  the  presiding  priest !  As  he  slowly  advanced  and 
thought  upon  these  things,  often  must  he  have  shuddered 
and  trembled  to  meet  the  Druid's  eye,  when  he  stood  by 
*  the  stone  of  his  power.'  " 

All  this  rubbish  is  based  on  supposition.  There 
is  not  a  particle  of  evidence  to  support  it.  Toland 
was  the  first  to  start  the  theory  that  logan  stones 
were  used  for  ordeal  purposes  or  as  oracles.  He 
says :  "  The  Druids  made  the  people  believe  that 
they  alone  could  move  these  stones,  and  by  a  miracle 
only,  by  which  pretended  power  they  condemned  or 
acquitted  the  accused,  and  often  brought  criminals  to 


LOGAN    ROCKS 


n 


confess  what  could  in  no  other  way  be  extorted  from 
them."  Here  is  a  positive  statement.  Toland  died 
in  1722.  Whence  did  Toland  derive  this?  From 
his  imagination  only.  Then  Rowe  quotes  him  as  his 
authority  for  attributing  to  the  logan  stones  this 
function  of  delivering  oracular  judgments.  Appeal 
was  wont  to  be  made  to  a  line  in  Ossian  as  a  support 


LOGAN    ROCK.      THE  RUGGLESTONE,    WIDDECOMBE. 


for  the  theory,  but  since  Ossian  has  been  proved  to 
be  a  fraud  antiquaries  are  chary  of  referring  to 
him. 

There  are  some  really  fine  logan  rocks  on  Dart- 
moor. Perhaps  the  largest  is  one  above  the  West 
Okement,  which  I  remember  seeing  many  years  ago, 
when  a  boy,  rolling  in  a  strong  wind  like  a  boat  at 
sea.  That  on  Rippon  Tor  measures  16J  feet  in 
length,  and  is  about  4J  feet  in  thickness  and  nearly 
the  same  in  breadth.  It  still  logs,  but  not  so  well  as 
formerly,  owing  to  mischievous  interference  with  it. 


78  THE    FREAKS 

There  is  a  large  one  in  the  Teign,  above  Fingle 
Bridge,  that  can  also  be  made  to  roll  with  the 
application  of  a  little  strength. 

The  Rugglestone,  near  Widdecombe-in-the-Moor, 
measures  22  feet  by  14  feet  in  one  part,  and  19  feet 
by  17  feet  in  another,  and  is  5  feet  6  inches  in  mean 
thickness.  Its  computed  weight  is  1 10  tons,  whereas 
the  celebrated  logan  in  Cornwall  weighs  90  tons. 
This  stone  is  poised  upon  two  points. 

Roos  Tor,  which  the  Ordnance  surveyors  playfully 
render  Rolls  Tor,  possessed  two  logan  stones,  but 
quarrymen  have  destroyed  one,  together  with  the 
fine  mass  of  rock  on  which  it  stood.  Near  it 
lay  a  huge  menhir,  never  removed  till  these  depre- 
dators broke  it  up.  I  give  an  illustration  of  the 
head  of  the  tor  with  its  two  logans,  taken  in  1852  ; 
one  alone  remains.  On  Black  Tor,  near  the  road 
from  Princetown  to  Plymouth,  is  a  small  logan,  with 
a  rock  basin  on  the  top,  and  with  a  projection  like 
a  handle.  It  can  be  made  to  oscillate  without 
difficulty.  A  small  logan  is  near  the  stone  rows  on 
Challacombe  in  the  miners'  workings.  Its  existence 
is  purely  accidental.  Another  is  near  a  collection 
of  hut  circles  on  the  slope  of  Combeshead  Tor. 

The  rock  basins  are  numerous ;  they  are  hollow 
pans  formed  on  the  surface  of  granite  slabs  by  the 
action  of  wind  and  water,  assisted  by  particles  of 
grit  set  in  rotation  by  the  wind.  "That  this  rude 
and  primitive  species  of  basin  formed  part  of  the 
apparatus  of  Druidism  there  can  be  little  doubt," 
says  Mr.  Rowe,  "but  the  specific  purpose  for  which 
they   were   designed   is   not   clear."      Fosbroke   un-. 


ROCK    BASINS 


79 


hesitatingly  pronounces  rock  basins  to  be  "cavities 
cut  in  the  surface  of  a  rock,  supposed  for  reservoirs, 
to  preserve  the  rain  or  dew  in  its  original  purity,  for 
the  religious  uses  of  the  Druids." 

All  this  assertion  must  be  put  aside.  The  bowls 
are  excavated  by  natural  agencies,  and  there  is  not 
a  scrap  of  evidence  to  show  that  they  were  put  to 
superstitious  or  any  other  use.  The  largest  is  on 
Caistor   Rock,   and   this   has   been  railed  round,  as 


ROOS  TOR,    WITH   ITS   LOGANS,   PREVIOUS  TO  DESTRUCTION. 


sheep  floundered  in  and  got  drowned,  or  could  not 
get  out  again.  Mis  Tor  has  a  fine  basin,  called  "  The 
Devil's  Frying-pan." 

These  basins  may  be  seen  in  all  stages  of  growth 
on  the  tops  of  the  tors. 

The  tolmen  is  either  a  holed  stone  or  a  rock 
supported  in  such  a  manner  as  to  preserve  it  from 
falling,  and  supposed  to  have  been  used  as  an 
apparatus  of  ordeal,  by  requiring  those  accused  of  a 
crime  to  creep  through  the  orifice. 

Holed  stones  have  unquestionably  been  employed 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  oaths  and   sealing  com- 


8o  THE    FREAKS 

pacts,  the  hands  being  passed  through  an  opening 
and  clasped.  And  certainly  S.  Wilfrid's  needle,  in 
the  crypt  under  Ripon  Minster,  was  made  use  of 
as  a  test  to  try  whether  a  maiden  accused  of  in- 
continency  was  guilty  or  not.  There  is,  however, 
no  well-defined  tolmen  on  Dartmoor  that  can  be 
pronounced  to  be  artificial.  A  holed  stone  in  the 
Teign  was  pierced  by  the  action  of  the  water,  and 
a  suspended  rock  at  an  incline  on  Staple  Tor,  called 
by  Mrs.  Bray  and  Mr.  Rowe  a  tolmen,  is  a  natural 
production  also.  It  is,  of  course,  possible  that  stones 
thus  poised  may  have  been  employed  for  the  purpose, 
but  we  have  no  evidence  that  those  on  Dartmoor 
were  so  used. 

Of  rocks  supported  at  one  end  by  a  small  stone 
there  are  plenty.  There  is  a  good  one  on  Yar  Tor, 
above  Dartmeet. 

The  old  school  of  antiquaries  started  with  a  theory, 
and  then  sought  for  illustrations  to  fit  into  their 
theories,  and  took  facts  and  distorted  them  to  serve 
their  purpose,  or  saw  proofs  where  no  proofs  existed. 
The  new  school  accumulates  statistics  and  piles  up 
facts,  and  then  only  endeavours  to  work  out  a 
plausible  theory  to  account  for  the  facts  laboriously 
collected  and  registered.  It  never  starts  with  a 
theory,  but  applies  practices  in  savage  life  still  in 
use  to  explain  the  customs  of  prehistoric  men,  who 
lived  on  the  same  cultural  level  as  the  savages  of 
the  present  day. 

One  word  of  caution  must  be  given  relative  to  the 
Druids,  who  are  credited  with  so  much.  It  is  true 
that  there  were  Druids  in   Britain  and  in   Ireland, 


THE    DRUIDS  8i 

but  they  were  the  schamans,  or  medicine-men,  of  the 
earlier  Ivernian  race,  who  maintained  their  repute 
among  the  conquering  Celts,  and  their  representatives 
at  the  present  day  are  the  white  witches  who  practise 
on  the  credulity  of  our  villagers. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
DEAD  MEN'S  DUST 

Cairns  on  Dartmoor — Why  mostly  in  solitary  places  and  on  hilltops — 
The  theory  of  wearing  mourning — Its  real  origin — Various  modes 
of  deceiving  the  dead  or  discouraging  them  from  returning — The 
desire  of  the  ghost  to  get  home— Is  cajoled  or  scared  away — How 
widows  get  rid  of  the  ghosts  of  their  first  husbands— Disguising 
the  dead. 

ONE  of  the  most  striking  experiences  of  an 
explorer  of  Dartmoor  is  the  coming  upon 
great  cairns  in  the  most  remote  and  inaccessible 
parts  of  that  waste.  Not  a  lone  hill  surrounded  by- 
bogs  is  without  its  great  mound  of  earth  or  pile  of 
stones  over  some  dead  man.  In  the  howling  wilder- 
ness about  Cranmere  Pool,  where  are  no  traces  of 
human  habitation,  there  lie  the  dead.  On  every  rise 
above  the  swamps  and  fathomless  morasses  of  Fox 
Tor,  there  they  are  scattered  thick.  Almost  always 
the  dead  were  conveyed  to  the  tops  of  hills,  or 
placed  on  the  brows  of  elevations  far  away  from  the 
settlements  of  the  living. 

Why  was  this  ? 

Because  prehistoric  men  were  in  fear  of  their  dead 
people. 

I  remember,  in  i860,  riding  across  the  central 
desert  of  Iceland,  and  coming  about  midnight,  when 

82 


CAIRNS    ON    DARTMOOR         83 

the  summer  sun  was  just  dipped  below  the  polar 
sea,  on  a  solitary  cairn  among  pools  of  frozen  water 
and  amidst  illimitable  tracts  of  volcanic  ash.  My 
guide  told  me  it  was  the  grave  of  one  Glamr,  who 
had  so  haunted  the  farms  in  the  Vatnsdal  that  the 
people  of  the  valley  had  combined  to  dig  him  up  and 
transport  the  corpse  almost  a  day's  journey  into  the 
central  desert,  where  they  cut  off  his  head,  and  buried 
the  body  in  a  sitting  posture  with  his  own  skull  as  his 
throne,  an  indignity  which  the  ghost  was  likely  to  so 
resent  as  never  to  venture  to  show  again. 

The  heathen  Icelander,  on  the  death  of  a  father 
in  the  family,  was  removed  by  the  anxious  heir  to 
the  estate  in  an  ingenious  manner.  The  wall  of  the 
house  behind  the  bed  was  broken  through,  and  the 
corpse  drawn  out  of  doors  by  that  way,  and  then  the 
opening  was  hastily  repaired.  Pie  was  then  hurried 
off  to  his  grave.  The  heir  was  so  afraid  lest  the 
venerable  party  should  saunter  home  again  and  re- 
claim his  property,  that  the  father  was  carried  forth 
in  this  peculiar  manner  in  order  to  bewilder  him  and 
make  him  find  a  difficulty  in  returning. 

A  strip  of  black  cloth  an  inch  and  a  half  in  width, 
stitched  round  the  sleeve — that  is  the  final,  or  per- 
haps penultimate  relic  (for  it  may  dwindle  further  to 
a  black  thread)  of  the  usage  of  wearing  mourning  on 
the  decease  of  a  relative. 

The  usage  is  one  that  commends  itself  to  us  as  an 
outward  and  visible  sign  of  the  inward  sentiment  of 
bereavement,  and  not  one  in  ten  thousand  who  adopt 
mourning  has  any  idea  that  it  ever  possessed  a 
signification  of  another  sort.     And  yet  the  correla- 


84  DEAD    MEN'S    DUST 

tion  of  general  custom — of  mourning  fashions — 
leads  us  to  the  inexorable  conclusion  that  in  its  in- 
ception the  practice  had  quite  a  different  signification 
from  that  now  attributed  to  it,  nay  more,  that  it  is 
solely  because  its  primitive  meaning  has  been  abso- 
lutely forgotten,  and  an  entirely  novel  significance 
given  to  it,  that  mourning  is  still  employed  after  a 
death. 

Look  back  through  the  telescope  of  anthropology 
at  our  ancestors  in  their  naked  savagery  after  a  death, 
and  we  see  them  daub  themselves  with  soot  mingled 
with  tallow.  When  the  savage  assumed  clothes  and 
became  a  civilised  man,  he  replaced  the  fat  and  lamp- 
black with  black  cloth,  and  this  black  cloth  has 
descended  to  us  in  the  nineteenth  century  as  the 
customary  and  intelligible  trappings  of  woe. 

The  Chinaman  when  in  a  condition  of  bereave- 
ment assumes  white  garments,  and  we  may  be  pretty 
certain  that  his  barbarous  ancestor,  like  the  Anda- 
man Islander  of  the  present  day,  pipe-clayed  his 
naked  body  after  the  decease  and  funeral  of  a 
relative.  In  Egypt  yellow  was  the  symbol  of  sorrow 
for  a  death,  and  that  points  back  to  the  ancestral  nude 
Egyptian  having  smeared  himself  with  yellow  ochre. 

Black  was  not  the  universal  hue  of  mourning  in 
Europe.  In  Castile  white  obtained  on  the  death  of 
its  princes.  Herrera  states  that  the  last  time  white 
was  thus  employed  was  in  1498  on  the  death  of 
Prince  John.  This  use  of  white  indicates  chalk  or 
pipe-clay  as  the  daub  affected  by  the  ancestors  of 
the  house  of  Castile  in  primeval  time  as  a  badge 
of  bereavement. 


WEARING   OF   MOURNING       85 

Various  explanations  have  been  offered  to  account 
for  the  variance  of  colour.  White  has  been  supposed 
to  denote  purity — and  to  this  day  white  gloves  and 
hatbands  and  scarves  are  employed  at  the  funeral 
of  a  young  girl. 

Yellow  has  been  supposed  to  symbolise  that  death 
is  the  end  of  human  hopes,  because  falling  leaves  are 
sere ;  black  is  taken  as  the  privation  of  light ;  and 
purple  or  violet  also  affected  as  a  blending  of  joy 
with  sorrow.  Christian  moralists  have  declaimed 
against  black  as  heathen,  as  denoting  an  aspect  of 
death  devoid  of  hope,  and  gradually  purple  is  taking 
its  place  in  the  trappings  of  the  hearse,  if  not  of  the 
mourners,  and  the  pall  is  now  very  generally  violet. 

But  these  explanations  are  after-thoughts,  and  an 
attempt  to  give  reason  for  the  divergence  of  usage 
which  might  satisfy :  they  are  really  no  explanations 
at  all.  The  usage  goes  back  to  a  period  when  there 
were  no  such  refinements  of  thought.  If  violet  or 
purple  has  been  traditional,  it  is  so  merely  because 
the  ancestral  Briton  stained  himself  with  woad  on  the 
death  of  a  relative. 

The  pipe-clay,  lampblack,  yellow  ochre,  and  woad 
of  the  primeval  mourners  must  be  brought  into 
range  with  a  whole  series  of  other  mourning  usages, 
and  then  the  result  is  something  of  an  "  eye-opener." 
It  reveals  a  condition  of  mind  and  an  aspect  of  death 
that  cause  not  a  little  surprise  and  amusement.  It 
is  one  of  the  most  astonishing,  and,  perhaps,  shocking 
traits  of  barbarous  life,  that  death  revolutionises 
completely  the  feelings  of  the  survivors  towards  their 
deceased  husbands,  wives,  parents,  and  other  relatives. 


86  DEAD    MEN'S    DUST 

A  married  couple  may  have  been  sincerely  attached 
to  each  other  so  long  as  the  vital  spark  was  twinkling, 
but  the  moment  it  is  extinguished  the  dead  partner 
becomes,  not  a  sadly  sweet  reminiscence,  but  an 
object  of  the  liveliest  terror  to  the  survivor.  He 
or  she  does  everything  that  ingenuity  can  suggest  to 
get  himself  or  herself  out  of  all  association  in  body 
and  spirit  with  the  late  lamented.  Death  is  held  to 
be  thoroughly  demoralising  to  the  deceased.  How- 
ever exemplary  a  person  he  or  she  may  have  been  in 
life,  after  death  the  ghost  is  little  less  than  a  plaguing, 
spiteful  spirit. 

There  is  in  the  savage  no  tender  clinging  to  the 
remembrance  of  the  loved  one ;  he  is  transformed  into 
a  terrible  bugbear,  who  must  be  evaded  and  avoided  by 
every  contrivance  conceivable.  This  is  due,  doubtless, 
mainly  to  the  inability  of  the  uncultivated  mind  to 
discriminate  between  what  is  seen  waking  from  what 
presents  itself  in  phantasy  to  the  dreaming  head. 
After  a  funeral  it  is  natural  enough  for  the  mourners 
to  dream  of  the  dead,  and  they  at  once  conclude 
that  they  have  been  visited  by  his  revenant.  After 
a  funeral  feast — a  great  gorging  of  pork  or  beef — it 
is  very  natural  that  the  sense  of  oppression  and  pain 
felt  should  be  associated  with  the  dear  departed,  and 
should  translate  itself  into  the  idea  that  he  has  come 
from  his  grave  to  sit  on  the  chests  of  those  who  have 
bewailed  him. 

Moreover,  the  savage  associates  the  idea  of  desola- 
tion, death,  discomfort,  with  the  condition  of  the  soul 
after  death,  and  believes  that  the  ghosts  do  all  they 
can  to  return  to  their  former  haunts  and  associates 


ARCHBISHOP    LAURENCE       Sy 

for  the  sake  of  the  warmth  and  food,  the  shelter  of 
the  huts,  and  the  entertainment  of  the  society 
of  their  fellows.  But  the  living  men  and  women 
are  not  at  all  eager  to  receive  the  ghosts  into  the 
family  circle,  and  they  accordingly  adopt  all  kinds 
of  "dodges,"  expedients  to  prevent  the  departed  from 
making  these  irksome  and  undesired  visits. 

The  Venerable  Bede  tells  us  that  Laurence,  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  resolved  on  flying  from 
England  because  he  was  hopeless  of  effecting  any 
good  under  the  successor  of  Ethelbert,  King  of 
Kent.  The  night  before  he  fled  he  slept  on  the 
floor  of  the  church,  and  dreamed  that  S.  Peter 
cudgelled  him  soundly  for  resolving  to  abandon  his 
sacred  charge.  In  the  morning  he  awoke  stiff  and 
full  of  aches  and  pains.  Turned  into  modern 
language  we  should  say  that  Archbishop  Laurence 
was  attacked  with  rheumatism  on  account  of  his 
having  slept  on  the  cold  stones  of  the  church.  His 
mind  had  been  troubled  before  he  went  to  sleep  with 
doubts  whether  he  was  doing  right  in  abandoning 
his  duty,  and  very  naturally  this  trouble  of  conscience 
coloured  his  dream  and  gave  to  his  rheumatic  twinges 
the  complexion  they  assumed  in  his  mind. 

Now  Archbishop  Laurence  regarded  the  Prince  of 
the  Apostles  in  precisely  the  light  in  which  a  savage 
views  his  deceased  relatives  and  ancestors.  He 
associates  his  maladies,  his  pains,  with  them,  if  he 
should  happen  to  dream  of  them.  If,  however,  when 
in  pain,  he  dreams  of  a  living  person,  then  he  holds 
that  this  living  person  has  cast  a  magical  spell  over 
him. 


88  DEAD    MEN'S    DUST 

Among  Nature's  men,  before  they  have  gone 
through  the  mill  of  civilisation,  plenty  to  eat  and  to 
drink,  and  someone  to  talk  to,  are  the  essentials 
of  happiness.  They  see  that  the  dead  have  none 
of  these  requisites,  they  consider  that  they  are 
miserable  without  them.  The  writer  remembers 
how,  when  he  was  a  boy,  and  attended  the  funeral 
of  a  relative  in  November,  he  could  not  sleep  all 
night — a  bitter  frosty  night — with  the  thought  how 
cold  it  must  be  to  the  dead  in  the  vault,  without 
blankets,  hot  bottle,  or  fire.  It  was  in  vain  for  him 
to  reason  against  the  feeling;  the  feeling  was  so 
strong  in  him  that  he  was  conscious  of  an  uncom- 
fortable expectation  of  the  dead  coming  to  claim 
a  share  of  the  blanket,  fire,  or  hot  bottle.  Now  the 
savage  never  reasons  against  such  a  feeling,  and  he 
assumes  that  the  dead  will  return,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  for  what  he  cannot  have  in  the  grave. 

The  ghost  is  very  anxious  to  assert  its  former 
rights.  A  widow  has  to  get  rid  of  the  ghost  of 
her  first  husband  before  she  can  marry  again.  In 
Parma  a  widow  about  to  be  remarried  is  pelted  with 
sticks  and  stones,  not  in  the  least  because  the 
Parmese  object  to  remarriage,  but  in  order  to  scare 
away  the  ghost  of  number  one  who  is  hanging  about 
his  wife,  and  who  will  resent  his  displacement  in  her 
affections  by  number  two. 

To  the  present  day,  in  some  of  the  villages  of  the 
ancient  Duchy  of  Teck,  in  Wiirtemberg,  it  is  custom- 
ary when  a  corpse  is  being  conveyed  to  the  cemetery 
for  the  relatives  and  friends  to  surround  the  dead,  and 
in  turn  talk  to  it — assure  it  what  a  blessed  rest  it 


GHOSTS   OF   THE    DEAD         89 

is  going  to ;  how  anxious  the  kinsfolk  are  that  it 
may  be  comfortable  ;  how  handsome  will  be  the  cross 
set  over  the  grave ;  how  much  all  desire  that  it  may 
sleep  soundly  and  not  by  any  means  leave  the  grave 
and  come  haunting  old  scenes  and  friends ;  how  un- 
reasonable such  conduct  as  the  latter  hinted  at  would 
be — how  it  would  alter  the  regard  entertained  for  the 
deceased,  how  disrespectful  to  the  Almighty  who 
gives  rest  to  the  good,  and  how  it  would  be  regarded 
as  an  admission  of  an  uneasy  conscience.  Lively 
comparisons  are  drawn  between  the  joys  of  paradise 
and  the  vale  of  tears  that  has  been  quitted,  so  as  to 
take  away  from  the  deceased  all  desire  to  return. 

This  is  a  survival  of  primitive  usage  and  mode 
of  thought,  and  has  its  analogies  in  many  places  and 
among  diverse  races. 

The  Dacotah  Indians  address  the  ghost  of  the 
dead  in  the  same  "soft  solder"  to  induce  it  to  take 
the  road  to  the  world  of  spirits,  and  not  to  come 
sauntering  back  to  its  wigwam.  In  Siam  and  in 
China  it  is  much  the  same;  persuasion,  flattery, 
threats,  are  employed. 

Unhappily,  all  ghosts  are  not  open  to  persuasion, 
and  see  through  the  designs  of  the  mourners,  and 
with  them  severer  measures  have  to  be  resorted  to. 
Among  the  Slavs  of  the  Danube  and  the  Czechs, 
the  bereaved,  after  the  funeral,  on  going  home,  turn 
themselves  about  after  every  few  steps,  and  throw 
sticks,  stones,  mud,  even  hot  coals,  in  the  direction 
of  the  churchyard,  so  as  to  frighten  the  spirit  back 
to  the  grave  so  considerately  provided  for  it.  A 
Finnish  tribe  has  not  even  the  decency  to  wait  till 


90  DEAD    MEN'S    DUST 

the  corpse  is  covered  with  soil ;  they  fire  pistols  and 
guns  after  it  as  it  goes  to  its  grave. 

In  Hamlet,  at  the  funeral  of  Ophelia,  the  priest 
says : — 

"  For  charitable  prayers, 
Shards,  flints,  and  pebbles  should  be  thrown  on  her." 

Unquestionably  it  must  have  been  customary  in 
England  thus  to  pelt  a  ghost  that  was  suspected 
of  the  intention  to  wander.  The  stake  driven 
through  the  suicide's  body  was  a  summary  way  of 
ensuring  that  his  ghost  should  not  be  troublesome. 

Those  Finns  who  fired  guns  after  a  dead  man  had 
another  expedient  for  holding  him  fast,  if  the  first 
failed,  and  that  was  to  nail  him  down  in  his  coffin. 
The  Arabs  tie  his  legs  together.  The  Wallachs  drive 
a  long  nail  through  his  skull ;  and  this  usage  ex- 
plains the  many  skulls  that  have  been  exhumed  in 
Germany  thus  perforated. 

The  Californian  Indians  were  wont  to  break  the 
spine  of  the  corpse  so  as  to  paralyse  his  lower  limbs 
and  make  "walking"  impossible.  Spirit  and  body, 
to  the  unreasoning  mind,  are  intimately  associated. 
A  hurt  done  to  the  body  wounds  the  soul.  Mrs. 
Crowe,  in  her  Night  Side  of  Nature^  tells  a  story 
reversing  this.  A  gentleman  in  Germany  was  dying. 
He  expressed  great  desire  to  see  his  son,  who  was 
a  ne'er-do-well,  and  was  squandering  his  money  in 
Paris.  At  that  time  the  young  man  was  sitting  on 
a  bench  in  the  Bois-de-Boulogne,  with  a  switch  in 
his  hand.  Suddenly,  he  beheld  his  old  father  before 
him.     Convinced  that  he  saw  a  phantom,  he  raised 


GHOSTS   OF   THE   DEAD        91 

his  switch,  and  cut  the  apparition  once,  twice,  and 
thrice  across  the  face,  and  it  vanished.  At  that 
moment  the  dying  father  uttered  a  scream,  and  held 
his  hands  to  his  face.  "  My  boy !  my  boy !  He  is 
striking  me  again  —  again!"  and  he  died.  The 
Algonquin  Indians  beat  the  walls  of  the  death- 
chamber  to  drive  out  the  ghost.  In  Sumatra  a  priest 
is  employed  with  a  broom  to  sweep  the  ghost  out. 
In  Scotland  and  in  North  Germany  the  chairs  on 
which  a  coffin  has  rested  are  reversed,  lest  the  dead 
man  should  take  a  fancy  to  sit  on  them  instead  of 
going  to  his  grave.  In  ancient  Mexico  certain  pro- 
fessional ghost  ejectors  were  employed,  who,  after 
a  funeral,  were  invited  to  visit  and  thoroughly  ex- 
plore the  house  whence  the  dead  had  been  removed, 
and  if  they  found  the  ghost  lurking  about  in  corners, 
in  cupboards,  under  beds — anywhere,  to  kick  it  out. 
In  Siberia,  after  forty  days'  "law"  given  to  the  ghost, 
if  it  be  still  found  loafing  about,  the  Schaman  is  sent 
for,  who  drums  it  out.  He  extorts  brandy,  which 
he  professes  to  require,  as  he  has  to  personally 
conduct  the  deceased  to  the  land  of  spirits,  where 
he  will  make  it  and  the  other  ghosts  so  fuddled  that 
they  will  forget  the  way  back  to  earth. 

In  North  Germany  a  troublesome  ghost  is  bagged, 
and  the  bag  is  emptied  in  some  lone  spot,  or  in  the 
garden  of  a  neighbour  against  whom  a  grudge  is 
entertained. 

Another  mode  of  getting  rid  of  the  spirit  of  the 
dear  departed  is  to  confuse  it  as  to  its  way  home. 
This  is  done  in  various  ways.  Sometimes  the  road 
by  which  it  has  been  carried  to  its  resting-place  is 


92  DEAD    MEN'S    DUST 

swept  to  efface  the  footprints,  and  a  false  track  is 
made  into  a  wood  or  on  to  a  moor  so  that  the  ghost 
may  take  the  wrong  road.  Sometimes  ashes  are 
strewn  on  the  way  to  hide  the  footprints.  Some- 
times the  dead  is  carried  rapidly  three  or  four  times 
round  the  house  so  as  to  make  him  giddy  and  not 
know  in  which  direction  he  is  carried."^  The  uni- 
versal practice  of  closing  the  eyes  of  the  dead  may 
be  taken  to  have  originated  in  the  desire  that  he 
might  be  prevented  from  seeing  his  way. 

In  places  it  was,  as  already  said,  customary  for  the 
dead  body  to  be  taken  out  of  the  house,  not  through 
the  door,  but  by  a  hole  knocked  in  the  wall  for  the 
purpose,  and  backwards.  In  Corea,  blinders  made  of 
black  silk  are  put  on  the  dead  man's  eyes,  to  prevent 
him  from  finding  his  way  home. 

Many  savage  nations  entirely  abandon  a  hut  or 
a  camp  in  which  a  death  has  occurred  for  precisely 
the  same  reason— of  throwing  the  dead  man's  spirit 
into  confusion  as  to  its  way  home. 

It  was  a  common  practice  in  England  till  quite 
recently  for  the  room  in  which  a  death  had  occurred 
to  be  closed  for  some  time,  and  this  is  merely  a 
survival  of  the  custom  of  abandoning  the  place 
where  a  spirit  has  left  the  body.  The  Esquimaux 
take  out  their  dying  relatives  to  huts  constructed 
of  blocks  of  ice  or  snow,  and  leave  them  there  to 
expire,  for  ghosts  are  as  stupid  as  they  are  trouble- 

*  This  was  done  at  Manaton  at  every  funeral,  the  only  difference 
being  that  he  was  carried  round  and  round  the  cross.  A  former  rector, 
Rev.  C.  Carwithen,  destroyed  the  cross  so  as  to  put  a  stop  to  this 
practice. 


GHOSTS    OF   THE    DEAD         93 

some ;  they  have  no  more  wits  than  a  peacock,  they 
can  only  find  their  way  to  the  place  where  they  died. 

Other  usages  are  to  divert  a  stream  and  bury  the 
corpse  in  the  river-bed,  or  lay  it  beyond  running 
water,  which,  according  to  ghost-lore,  it  cannot  pass. 
Or,  again,  fires  are  lighted  across  its  path,  and  it 
shrinks  from  passing  through  flames.  As  for  water, 
ghosts  loathe  it.  Among  the  Matamba  negroes  a 
widow  is  flung  into  the  water  and  dipped  repeatedly 
so  as  to  wash  off  the  ghost  of  the  dead  husband, 
which  is  supposed  to  be  clinging  to  her.  In  New 
Zealand,  among  the  Maoris,  all  who  have  followed 
the  corpse  dive  into  water  so  as  to  throw  ofl"  the 
ghost  which  is  sneaking  home  after  them.  In  Tahiti, 
all  who  have  assisted  at  a  burial  run  as  hard  as  they 
can  to  the  sea  and  take  headers  into  it  for  the  same 
object.  It  is  the  same  in  New  Guinea.  We  see  the 
same  idea  reduced  to  a  mere  form  in  ancient  Rome, 
where,  in  place  of  the  dive  through  water,  a  vessel 
of  water  was  carried  twice  round  those  who  had 
followed  the  corpse,  and  they  were  sprinkled.  The 
custom  of  washing  for  purification  after  a  funeral 
practised  by  the  Jews  is  a  reminiscence  of  the  usage, 
with  a  novel  explanation  given  to  it. 

In  the  South  Pacific,  in  the  Hervey  Islands,  after  a 
death,  men  turn  out  to  pummel  and  fight  the  return- 
ing spirit,  and  give  it  a  good  drubbing  in  the  air. 

Now  perhaps  the  reader  may  have  been  brought 
to  understand  what  the  sundry  mourning  costumes 
originally  meant.  They  were  disguises  whereby  to 
deceive  the  ghosts,  so  that  they  might  not  recognise 
and  pester  with  their  undesired  attentions  the  rela- 


94  DEAD    MEN'S    DUST 

tives  who  live.  Indians  who  are  wont  to  paint  them- 
selves habitually,  go  after  a  funeral  totally  unbedecked 
with  colour.  On  the  other  hand,  other  savages  daub 
themselves  fantastically  with  various  colours,  making 
themselves  as  unlike  to  what  they  were  previously  as 
is  possible.  The  Coreans,  when  in  mourning,  assume 
hats  with  low  rims  that  conceal  their  features. 

The  Papuans  conceal  themselves  under  extin- 
guishers made  of  banana  leaves.  Elsewhere  in  New 
Guinea  they  envelop  themselves  in  a  wicker-work 
frame  in  which  they  can  hardly  walk.  Among  the 
Mpongues  of  Western  Africa,  those  who  on  ordinary 
occasions  wear  garments,  when  suffering  bereavement 
walk  in  complete  nudity.  Valerius  Maximus  tells 
us  that  among  the  Lycians  it  was  customary  in 
mourning  for  the  men  to  disguise  themselves  in 
women's  garments. 

The  custom  of  cutting  the  hair  short,  and  of 
scratching  and  disfiguring  the  face,  and  of  rending 
the  garments,  all  originated  from  the  same  thought 
— to  make  the  survivors  unrecognisable  by  the  ghost 
of  the  deceased.  Plutarch  asserts  that  the  Sacae, 
after  a  death,  went  down  into  pits  and  hid  them- 
selves for  days  from  the  light  of  the  sun.  Australian 
widows  near  the  north-west  bend  of  the  Murray 
shave  their  heads  and  plaster  them  with  pipe-clay, 
which,  when  dry,  forms  a  close-fitting  skull-cap.  The 
spirit  of  the  late  lamented,  on  returning  to  his  better 
half,  either  does  not  recognise  his  spouse,  or  is  so 
disgusted  with  her  appearance  that  he  leaves  her  for 
ever. 

There  is  almost  no  end  to  the  expedients  adopted 


GHOSTS   OF   THE    DEAD         95 

for  getting  rid  of  the  dead.  Piles  of  stones  are 
heaped  over  them,  they  are  buried  deep  in  the  earth, 
they  are  walled  up  in  natural  caves,  they  are  inclosed 
in  megalithic  structures,  they  are  burned,  they  are 
sunk  in  the  sea.  They  are  threatened,  they  are 
cajoled,  they  are  hoodwinked.  Every  sort  of  trickery 
is  had  recourse  to  to  throw  them  off  the  scent  of  home 
and  to  displease  them  with  their  living  relations. 

The  wives,  horses,  dogs  slain  and  buried  with 
them,  the  copious  supplies  of  food  and  drink  laid 
on  their  graves,  are  bribes  to  induce  them  to  be 
content  with  their  situation.  Nay,  further,  in  very 
many  places  no  food  may  be  eaten  in  the  house  of 
mourning  for  many  days  after  an  interment.  The 
object,  of  course,  is  to  disappoint  the  returning  spirit, 
which  comes  seeking  a  meal,  finds  none;  comes  again 
next  day,  finds  none  again  ;  and  after  a  while  out  of 
sheer  disgust  desists  from  returning. 

A  vast  amount  of  misdirected  ingenuity  is  ex- 
pended in  bamboozling  and  bullying  the  unhappy 
ghosts ;  but  the  feature  most  striking  in  these  pro- 
ceedings is  the  unanimous  agreement  in  considering 
these  ghosts  as  such  imbeciles.  When  they  put  off 
their  outward  husk,  they  divest  themselves  of  all 
that  cunning  which  is  the  form  that  intelligence 
takes  in  the  savage.  Not  only  so,  but,  although  they 
remember  and  crave  after  home  comforts,  they  abso- 
lutely forget  the  tricks  they  had  themselves  played 
on  the  souls  of  the  dead  in  their  own  lifetime ;  they 
walk  and  blunder  into  the  traps  which  they  had 
themselves  laid  for  other  ghosts  in  the  days  of  their 
flesh. 


96  DEAD    MEN'S    DUST 

Perhaps  the  lowest  abyss  of  dunderheadedness 
they  have  been  supposed  to  reach  is  when  made  to 
mistake  their  own  identity.  Recently,  near  Mentone, 
a  series  of  prehistoric  interments  in  caves  has  been 
exposed.  They  reveal  the  dead  men  as  having  had 
their  heads  daubed  over  with  red  oxide  of  iron. 
Still  extant  races  of  savages  paint,  plaster,  and  dis- 
figure their  dead.  The  prehistoric  Greeks  masked 
them.  The  Aztecs  masked  their  deceased  kings,  and 
the  Siamese  do  so  still.  We  cannot  say  with  absolute 
certainty  what  the  object  is,  but  we  are  probably  not 
far  out  when  we  conjecture  the  purpose  to  be  to  make 
the  dead  forget  who  they  are  when  they  look  at  their 
reflection  in  the  water.  There  was  a  favourite  song 
sung  some  sixty  years  ago  relative  to  a  little  old 
woman  who  got  "  muzzy."  Whilst  in  this  condition 
some  naughty  boys  cut  her  skirts  at  her  knees.  When 
she  woke  up  and  saw  her  condition,  "  Lawk ! "  said 
the  little  old  woman,  "  this  never  is  me ! "  And 
certain  ancient  peoples  treated  their  dead  in  some- 
thing the  same  way;  they  disguised  and  disfigured 
them  so  that  each  ghost  on  waking  up  might  ex- 
claim, "  Lawk  !  this  never  is  me  !  "  And  so,  having 
lost  its  identity,  the  soul  did  not  consider  that  it 
had  a  right  to  revisit  its  old  home  and  molest  its  old 
acquaintances. 


CHAPTER   VII. 
THE    CAMPS 

No  camps  in  the  forest — All  on  the  confines — No  apprehension  of 
attack  from  the  south — Whit  Tor — The  exploration  of  the  camp 
— How  the  walls  were  constructed — This  explains  their  ruinous 
condition — Brent  Tor  formerly  a  camp — How  a  road  up  it  was  made 
— The  Dewerstone  camp — Earthen  camps — Hembury — The  Galford 
Down  camp — A  Saxon  thegn's  burrh — Old  Squire  Bidlake — Lyd- 
ford  fortifications. 

AS  I  have  already  said,  the  inhabitants  of  Dart- 
moor in  prehistoric  times  seem  to  have  been 
of  a  peaceable  disposition.  There  are  pounds  to 
contain  cattle  and  protect  them  against  wolves,  but 
no  camps  on  the  moor  itself.  What  camps  there 
are  will  be  found  on  its  confines,  as  though  the 
natives  feared  attack  from  an  enemy  outside,  but 
were  not  troubled  by  their  neighbours  of  the  same 
blood  and  pursuits. 

Of  camps  there  are  two  sorts,  but  we  cannot  be 
sure  that  they  belong  to  different  races  of  men. 
The  stone- walled  fortresses  are  few — Brent  Tor,  Whit 
Tor,  Cranbrook,  one  near  Ashburton,  and  the  Dewer- 
stone. Of  earth,  or  earth  and  stone  mixed,  there 
are  more.  A  small  one  above  Tavistock,  an  immense 
and  very  important  one  at  Galford  or  Burleigh  in 
Bridestowe,  one  above  the  station  at  Okehampton, 
H  97 


98  THE    CAMPS 

Wooston  and  Prestonbury  on  the  Teign,  Holne  and 
Hembury  on  the  Dart.  Along  the  south  of  the 
moor  are  none  till  we  reach  Boringdon,  between 
the  Plym  and  the  Tory.  But  one  only  of  all  these 
has  been  systematically  explored,  and  that  is, 
perhaps,  the  finest,  on  Whit  Tor,  above  Mary  and 
Peter  Tavy. 

Whit  Tor  rises  to  the  height  of  1,526  feet  above 
the  sea-level.  It  is  on  Cudlipptown  Down,  and 
commands  exceedingly  fine  views  westward  as  far 
as  the  distant  Cornish  hills. 

The  tor  is  not  of  granite,  but  of  gabbro,  an  erup- 
tive igneous  rock,  very  black  and  hard,  and  splitting 
along  defined  planes  under  the  action  of  the  weather. 
The  north  side  near  the  summit  is  covered  with  a 
clitter  of  broken  masses. 

The  boldest  masses  of  rock  rise  on  the  south 
precipitously,  but  there  are  fangs  of  rock  that  shoot 
up  over  the  small  plateau  that  forms  the  summit 
of  the  hill. 

The  whole  of  the  summit  is  surrounded  by  a 
double  wall  in  a  very  ruinous  condition,  and  this 
is  to  a  considerable  extent  due  to  the  smallness  of 
the  stones  of  which  it  was  composed.  The  faces 
of  the  walls  were  to  be  traced  only  by  digging, 
and  were  never  more  than  doubtful. 

Both  walls  appear  to  have  been  10  feet  thick, 
perhaps  a  little  more ;  the  outer,  when  perfect,  might 
have  had  a  height  of  4  to  4 J  feet,  whilst  the  inner, 
judged  by  the  debris,  appears  to  have  been  6  to 
7  feet  high. 

The  space  between  the  walls  varied,  owing  to  the 


EXPLORATION  OF  THE  CAMP   99 

inequalities  of  the  ground,  but  was  generally  10  feet 
wide. 

The  area  inclosed  by  the  innermost  wall  amounts 
to  close  on  one  and  a  half  acres ;  the  total  amount 
included  within  the  outer  wall  is  about  two  and  a 
half  acres  of  ground. 

The  circumference  is  very  much  broken  up,  as  is 
also  the  inclosed  area,  by  considerable  masses  of 
protruding  rocks.  About  these,  within  the  camp, 
heaps  of  small  stones  had  been  piled  up,  forming 
cairns.  The  largest  and  most  notable  of  these  is  at 
the  south-west,  and  consists  of  a  core  of  rock  about 
which  an  immense  accumulation  of  stones  has  been 
heaped.  All  these  cairns  were  thoroughly  explored. 
They  covered  no  interments,  and  although  they  dis- 
closed evidences  that  fires  had  been  lighted  against 
the  rocks,  and  that  people  had  camped  there  for  a 
while,  they  showed  no  tokens  of  structural  erection, 
as  though  they  were  ruinous  huts  built  against  the 
native  rock.  The  huge  cairn  was  removed  with  great 
labour,  and  revealed  nothing  whatever  beneath  it 
but  one  flint  flake. 

These  cairns,  there  can  be  little  doubt,  were  col- 
lections of  stones  for  the  use  of  the  besieged,  to 
serve  as  missiles,  or  for  the  repair  of  the  walls. 

Within  the  area  of  the  camp  are  a  few  hut  circles. 
One  near  the  centre  is  double,  and  contained  an 
incredible  number  of  flint  chips,  a  flint  scraper,  and 
a  core  from  which  flakes  had  been  struck.  The 
whole  area  is  littered  with  flint  chips  that  are  brought 
up  by  the  moles  when  making  their  burrows,  and 
curiously  enough  not  a  single  arrow-head  or  flake 


loo  THE    CAMPS 

that  can  be  confidently  set  down  as  a  weapon  has 
been  disinterred.  The  pottery  found  is  all  of  the 
hand-made  cooking-vessel  type. 

To  the  east  is  a  circle  sheltered  on  one  side  by 
a  mass  of  rock,  that  has  a  second  chamber,  a  sort  of 
bedroom  made  under  a  slab  of  rock,  with  the 
interstices  on  all  sides  built  up,  except  only  on  that 
by  which  it  was  entered  from  the  hut.     A  good  deal 


COVERED   CHAMBER  AND  COOKING-HOLE. 

of  flint  was  found  there.  Outside,  on  the  south,  was 
another  hut  circle,  where  a  piece  of  clear  quartz 
crystal  was  found,  together  with  a  flint  knife  that 
had  one  edge  serrated  by  use. 

Connected  with  the  camp  on  the  north-east  is  a 
ruined  wall  that  leads  to  an  inclosure  with  numerous 
hut  circles.  South-west  of  the  camp  further  down 
the  hill  is  a  pound  in  good  preservation  with  eight 
hut  circles  in  it.  A  reeve  or  bank  to  the  west  of 
the  camp  ftads  down  to  other  collections  of  habita- 
tions of  the  same  description. 


EXPLORATION  OF  THE  CAMP    loi 

Some  ten  cairns  on  the  slopes  have  been  in- 
vestigated, but  have  yielded  little  beyond  the  hand- 
ful of  ashes  sunk  in  a  pit  in  the  centre  that  represents 
the  dead.  A  ruined  kistvaen,  much  mutilated,  lies 
between  the  camp  and  the  Langstone,  a  menhir  that 
gives  its  name  to  the  common,  and  which  is  the 
starting-point  of  a  stone  row  of  very  inconsiderable 
blocks  that  led  to  a  cairn  now  demolished,  and  its 


CONSTRUCTION   OF   STONE   AND   TIMBER   WALL. 


place  occupied  by  a  pool.  From  Langstone  a  track 
to  the  south-east  leads  by  the  head  of  the  Peter 
Tavy  stream,  which  rises  in  a  bog,  to  a  fine  circle 
of  standing  stones,  and  on  the  slope  below  that  and 
above  the  Walkham  river  is  a  large  settlement  of 
some  thirty  or  forty  habitations.  Beyond  the  Peter 
Tavy  brook,  moreover,  are  numerous  clusters  of 
dwellings.  To  all  the  population  who  lived  in  these 
huts,  Whit  Tor  had  served  as  a  camp  of  refuge.  The 
place  deserves  a  visit,  for  we  have  there  collected 
within  a  small  radius  the  houses  and  hafnlets  occupied 


I02  THE    CAMPS 

by  the  primeval  race,  the  tombs  of  their  dead,  the 
stone  row  set  up  in  memory  of  some  chief  repre- 
sented by  the  Longstone  towering  above  the  petty 
stones  below,  the  circle  in  which  the  dead  were 
burned,  and  finally,  the  camp  to  which  they  flew  to 
defend  their  beloved  moor  from  invasion. 

It  may  cause  some  surprise  that  the  walls  of  the 
stone  castles  should  be  in  such  complete  ruin.  But, 
in  all  likelihood,  they  were  constructed  on  the  same 
principle  as  the  Gaulish  camps  described  by  Caesar. 
They  were  built  of  timber  frames  packed  in  with 
stones,  and  the  logs  mortised  together  held  the 
stones  in  place.  When,  however,  the  wood  rotted, 
this  mode  of  construction  ensured  and  precipitated 
utter  ruin.  At  Murcens,  in  the  department  of  Lot, 
is  one  of  these  stone  camps,  and  sufficiently  well 
preserved,  owing  to  the  size  of  the  limestone  slabs 
employed  in  the  building,  to  show  precisely  how 
the  whole  was  constructed.  But  the  walls  of  losolo- 
dunum,  that  held  out  so  bravely  against  Caesar,  being 
built  of  small  stones  compacted  with  timber,  are 
now  but  heaps  of  ruin,  no  better  than  those  of  Whit 
Tor. 

Brent  Tor  was  fortified  in  a  manner  very  similar  to 
Whit  Tor ;  the  outer  wall  remains  fairly  perfect  on 
the  north  side,  but  the  inner  wall  has  been  much 
injured.  In  this  instance  it  is  not  the  summit,  but 
the  base  of  the  hill  that  has  been  defended.  As 
there  is  a  church  on  the  summit,  as  also  a  church- 
yard with  its  wall,  these  have  drawn  their  supplies 
from  the  circumvallation.  Moreover,  it  has  been 
broken  through  to  form  a  way  up  to  the  church. 


HOW  A   ROAD  WAS   MADE     103 

A  late  curate  of  Tavistock,  whose  function  it  was 
to  take  the  service  on  Brent  Tor,  and  who  found  it 
often  desperate  work  to  scramble  to  the  summit 
in  storm  and  sleet  and  rain,  resolved  on  forming  a 
roadway  to  the  churchyard  gate.  But  he  experienced 
some  difficulty  in  persuading  men  to  go  out  from 
Tavistock  to  work  at  this  churchway.  However,  he 
supplied  himself  with  several  bottles  of  whisky,  and 
when  he  saw  a  sturdy  labourer  standing  idle  in  the 
market-place  he  invited  him  into  his  lodgings  and 
plied  him  with  hot  grog,  till  the  man  in  a  moist 
and  smiling  condition  assented  to  the  proposition 
that  he  should  give  a  day  to  the  Brent  Tor  path.  By 
this  means  it  was  made.  The  curate  was  wont  to 
say :  "  Hannibal  cut  his  way  through  the  Alps  with 
vinegar ;  I  hewed  mine  over  Brent  Tor  with  prime 
usquebaugh."  Few  traces  of  this  way  remain,  but 
in  making  it  sad  mischief  was  made  with  the  inner 
wall  of  the  fortress. 

On  Brent  Tor  summit  it  is  sometimes  impossible  to 
stand  against  the  wind.  I  remember  how  that  on 
one  occasion  a  baptismal  party  mounted  it  in  driving 
rain.  The  father  carried  the  child,  and  he  wore  for 
the  occasion  a  new  blue  jersey.  When  the  poor 
babe  was  presented  at  the  font  it  was  not  only 
streaming  with  water,  but  its  sopped  white  garments 
had  become  blue  with  the  stain  from  the  father's 
jersey. 

On  an  occasion  of  a  funeral,  when  the  parson 
emerged  from  the  church  door  he  was  all  but 
prostrated  by  the  north-west  blast,  and  he  and  the 
funeral  party  had  to  proceed  to  the  grave  much,  like 


I04  THE    CAMPS 

frogs.  "Crook'y  down,  sir  !  "  was  the  sexton's  advice ; 
and  the  whole  company  had  to  press  forward  bent 
double,  and  to  finish  the  service  seated  in  the  "  lew  " 
of  headstones. 

According  to  popular  belief  the  graves,  which  are 
cut  in  the  volcanic  tufa,  fill  with  water,  and  the 
dead  dissolve  into  a  sort  of  soup.  But  this  is  not 
true ;  the  rock  is  dry  and  porous.  It  discharges  its 
drainage  by  a  little  spring  on  the  north-east  that 
in  process  of  ages  has  worked  itself  from  stage  to 
stage  lower  down  the  hill. 

The  Dewerstone  Camp  consists  of  two  stone  walls 
drawn  across  the  headland.  No  walls  were  needed 
for  the  sides  that  were  precipitous.  Cranbrook 
Castle  is  in  very  good  preservation,  except  on  the 
side  towards  the  Teign,  where  it  has  been  removed 
by  road-menders,  but  not  within  recent  years.  It 
richly  deserves  to  be  investigated,  and  the  owners 
have  recently  granted  permission  to  do  so  to  the 
Dartmoor  Exploration  Committee. 

We  come  next  to  the  earthen-banked  camps.  Of 
these  there  is  a  very  fine  example  at  Hembury, 
near  Buckfastleigh.  But  the  finest  of  all  is  in 
Burleigh  Wood,  in  the  parish  of  Bridestowe.  Here 
the  side  accessible  from  Galford  Down  has  been  cut 
through,  with  a  trench  and  a  bank  thrown  up  on 
the  camp  side,  and  this  is  carried  right  across  the 
neck.  The  earthen  banks  were  almost  certainly 
crested  with  palisades.  Hard  by  this  early  camp, 
where  a  bronze  palstave  has  been  found,  is  another 
of  a  different  character,  occupying  the  extreme  point 
of  the  hill.     This  consists  of  a  tump  or  mound,  with 


A   SAXON    BURRH  105 

an  earthwork  round  it  as  a  ring.  In  this  are  remains 
of  iron-smelting. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  as  to  the  period  of  this 
latter.  It  was  the  burrh  of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  and 
was  in  every  point  similar  to  the  mottes  of  the 
Merovingians  in  France.  On  the  Bayeux  tapestry 
three  fortified  places  are  represented — Dinan,  Dol, 
and  Rennes — and  all  are  of  the  same  type.  A  mound 
of  earth  was  either  thrown  up,  or  a  hilltop  was 
artificially  shaped  like  a  tumulus.  On  the  top  of 
this  the  thegn  erected  his  fortress  of  wood.  In  the 
Bayeux  representations  the  superstructures  at  Dol 
and  Rennes  are  of  timber,  and  that  of  Dinan  is 
partly  of  timber  and  partly  of  stone.  A  flying 
bridge  of  wood  led  from  the  gate  in  the  palisading 
of  the  outer  ring,  supported  on  posts,  and  conducted 
by  an  incline  to  the  gate  of  the  citadel.  An  example 
of  one  of  these  camps  at  Bishopston  in  Gower  has 
been  explored  recently.*  The  stumps  of  the  pales 
were  there  found  embedded  in  the  clay  of  the  bank, 
in  tolerable  preservation. 

In  the  valley  below  Burleigh  Camp,  commanding 
the  ancient  road  from  Exeter  by  Okehampton  to 
Launceston,  was  a  third  camp,  that  has  been  for 
the  most  part  'obliterated  ;  it  occupied  a  rising  knoll 
of  limestone,  and  this  latter  has  been  quarried,  so 
that  the  camp  earthworks  have  been  either  destroyed 
or  buried  under  the  accumulations  from  the  quarry. 

The  locality  is  of  great  interest.  The  ridge  goes 
by  the  name  of  Galford,  and  there  is  reason  to  think 

*  ArchcBologia  Ca??ibrensis,  July,   1899.     The  camp  was  excavated 
by  Colonel  W.   L.  Morgan. 


io6  THE    CAMPS 

that  this  was  the  Gavulford  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle,  where,  in  823,  the  Britons  made  their  last 
stand  against  Egbert  and  the  Saxons  of  Devon. 

The  place  is  by  nature  very  strong,  and  it  domi- 
nates two  roads,  that  from  Exeter  to  Cornwall,  and 
that  which  branched  off  from  it  on  Sourton  Down 
and  struck  through  Sourton  to  Lydford.  The  name 
Gavulford  signifies  the  holdfast  on  the  fordd  or  road. 

Burleigh  Camp  is  on  the  estate  of  Bidlake,  an 
interesting  old  manor  house,  long  the  residence  of 
a  family  of  the  same  name,  and  deserving  a  visit. 
Old  Squire  Bidlake  was  a  zealous  Royalist,  and  the 
Parliamentary  soldiers  went  to  his  house  to  seize 
him.  As  they  entered  the  avenue  they  met  an 
elderly  tramp  in  rags,  and  said,  "  You  fellow.  Have 
you  seen  Squire  Bidlake  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  he  replied  ;  "  Pve  just  come  from  the  house, 
and  when  I  was  there  he  was  in  it." 

Then  he  went  his  way,  and  not  till  too  late  did 
they  discover  that  this  tramp  was  Squire  Bidlake 
himself  slipping  away  in  disguise. 

He  fled  to  Burleigh  Wood.  There  is  a  little  farm 
below  it,  in  which,  at  the  time,  lived  a  tenant  of  the 
name  of  Veale.  Veale  and  his  wife  and  daughter 
concealed  him  in  the  underwood,  and  daily  conveyed 
to  him  food,  and  supplied  him  with  blankets  till  the 
search  for  him  ceased. 

At  the  Restoration,  Squire  Bidlake  made  over  the 
farm  to  the  Veales  on  a  nominal  rent,  to  be  held  by 
them  on  this  rent  so  long  as  a  male  Veale  of  their 
descent  remained  to  hold  it. 

Both  Bidlakes  and  Veales  are  now  gone,  and  the 


LYDFORD  FORTIFICATIONS    107 

little  farmhouse  is  a  ruin.  Squire  Bidlake  is  sup- 
posed still  to  haunt  the  wood,  and  children  are 
frightened  by  their  mothers  with  the  threat  that 
the  old  squire  will  come  and  fetch  them,  if  naughty. 

Lydford  was  strongly  defended.  It  occupies  a 
fringe  of  land  between  ravines,  and  lines  of  fortifica- 
tion were  drawn  across  the  neck.  These  may  still 
be  traced.  The  castle  stands  on  a  tump  artificially 
shaped.  Beyond  the  church  is  another  small  camp, 
probably  British.  The  castle  itself  is  a  structure  of 
stone,  replacing  the  old  Saxon  burrh. 

It  was  probably  from  the  bridges  leading  up  into 
these  citadels,  which  the  Norsemen  saw  when  they 
harried  our  coasts,  that  they  conceived  the  idea  that 
the  rainbow  was  the  great  bridge  leading  up  into 
Odin's  Valhalla. 

"  What  fools  the  gods  must  be,"  says  the  inquirer 
in  the  Edda,  "to  build  their  passage  of  egress  and 
ingress  of  such  brittle  stuff." 


CHAPTER  VIII 
TIN-STREAMING 

Remains  of  the  tin-streamers  —Dartmoor  stream  tin — Lode  tin — 
The  dweller  in  the  hut  circles  did  not  work  the  tin — The  tin  trade 
with  Britain— How  tin  was  extracted— A  furnace — Deep  Swin- 
combe — Blowing-houses — The  wheel  introduced  in  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth — ^Japanese  primitive  methods— Numerous  blowing-house 
ruins — The  tin-mould  stones — Merrivale  Bridge — King's  Oven — Its 
present  condition — Mining. 

NO  one  who  has  eyes  in  his  head,  and  considers 
what  he  sees,  if  he  has  been  on  Dartmoor,  can 
have  failed  to  observe  how  that  every  stream-bed 
has  been  turned  over,  and  how  that  every  hollow 
in  a  hillside  is  furrowed. 

The  tin-streamers  who  thus  scarred  the  face  of  the 
moor  carried  on  their  works  far  down  below  where 
the  rivers  debouch  from  the  moor  on  to  the  lowlands, 
but  there  the  evidences  of  their  toil  have  been  effaced 
by  culture. 

The  tin  found  in  the  detritus  of  streams  is  the 
oxide,  and  is  far  purer  than  tin  found  in  the  lode. 
Mining  for  tin  was  pursued  on  Dartmoor  during  the 
Middle  Ages  to  a  limited  extent  only,  and  solely 
when  the  stream  tin  was  exhausted. 

A  very  interesting  excursion  may  be  made  from 
Douseland  Station  up  the  Meavy  valley  to  Nosworthy 

io8 


'5333  J    3 


3",   '    ^ 
3    1    3    i   3 

>  '    '3 


DARTMOOR    STREAM    TIN       109 

Bridge,  above  which  several  old  tin-moulds  may  be 
seen  lying  in  the  track  beside  the  river,  and  tin- 
workings  are  passed.  But  perhaps  the  most  interest- 
ing portion  of  the  walk  is  that  up  the  Nillacombe 
that  opens  on  to  the  Meavy  from  the  right  below 
Kingset. 

Above  this  the  stream  has  been  turned  about  and 


TIN-WORKINGS,    NILLACOMBE. 


its  bed  torn  up,  and  rubble  heaped  in  huge  piles. 
Not  only  so,  but  the  hillslope  to  the  south  is  marked 
as  with  confluent  smallpox,  the  result  of  the  gropings 
of  miners  after  tin.  They  followed  up  every  trickle 
from  the  side  and  dug  costeening,  or  shoding,  pits 
everywhere  in  search  of  metal. 

The  upper  waters  of  the  Webburn  have  in  like 
manner  been  explored,  and  some  idea  of  the  extent 
to  which  the  moor  was  lacerated  by  the  miners  may 
be    obtained    from    the    Warren    Inn    on    the   road 


no  TIN-STREAMING 

from  Post  Bridge  to  Moreton,  looking  east,  when  the 
slopes  of  Headland  Warren  and  Challacombe  will  be 
seen  seamed  deeply. 

The  remains  of  the  tinners  have  not  been  subjected 
to  as  full  an  exploration  as  they  merit,  but  certain 
results  have  nevertheless  been  reached.  One  thing 
is  abundantly  clear,  that  all  the  tin-streaming  was 
done  subsequently  to  the  time  when  men  occupied 
the  hut  circles.  The  population  living  in  them 
knew  nothing  of  tin. 

Diodorus  Siculus,  who  wrote  B.C.  8,  says  that  the 
dwellers  at  Belerium,  a  cape  of  Britain,  mined  and 
smelted  tin.  "After  beating  it  up  into  knucklebone 
shapes  they  carry  it  to  a  certain  island  lying  off 
Britain,  named  Ictis,  for  at  ebb  tides,  the  space 
between  drying  up,  they  carry  the  tin  in  waggons 
thither  .  .  .  and  thence  the  merchants  buy  it  from 
the  inhabitants  and  carry  it  over  to  Gaul,  and  lastly, 
travelling  by  land  through  Gaul  about  thirty  days, 
they  bring  down  the  loads  on  horses  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Rhine." 

There  can  exist  little  doubt  that  Ictis  is  the  same 
as  Vectis,  the  Isle  of  Wight.  It  is  held  that  anciently 
the  island  was  connected  with  the  mainland.  The 
Roman  station  and  harbour  was  at  Brading.  The 
early  workers  first  pounded  the  ore  with  stone 
crushers,  and  such  have  been  found.  They  then 
fanned  it  in  the  wind,  which  carried  off  the  fine 
light  dust,  and  left  the  metal  on  the  shovels  on 
which  they  tossed  the  ore  and  grit  into  the  air. 
Beside  some  of  the  workings  heaps  of  this  dust 
have  been  detected.     The  washing  of  the  ore  came 


HOW  TIN  WAS  EXTRACTED     iii 

later.  When  sufficient  had  been  collected,  long 
troughs  were  sunk  in  the  "calm,"  or  native  clay, 
and  these  were  filled  with  charcoal ;  then  the  tin 
ore  was  laid  on  this  charcoal,  and  either  more  of 
this  latter  was  heaped  above,  or  else  peat  was  piled 


MORTAR-STONE,    OKEFORD. 


I 


up,  with  layers  of  ore.  Finally  the  whole  was 
kindled.  No  bellows  were  used,  but  a  draught 
through  the  channel  kept  the  whole  glowing,  and 
the  metal  ran  through  the  fire  into  the  bottom  of 
the  hollow,  or  ran  out  at  the  end,  as  this  rude 
furnace  was  constructed  on  an  incline. 


112  TIN-STREAMING 

In  Staffordshire,  at  Kinver,  and  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Stourbridge,  in  Worcestershire,  I  have  seen 
banks  and  hedges  made  up  of  what  are  locally  called 
burrs.  These  consist  of  masses  of  sand  and  iron 
slag,  two  feet  in  diameter,  round,  and  concave  on  one 
side,  convex  on  the  other.  These  burrs  were  formed 
in  the  primitive  manufacture  of  iron,  which  much 
resembled  that  of  tin.  Andrew  Yarranton,  in  Eng- 
land's Improvement  by  Sea  and  Land,  1698,  says  that 
he  saw  dug  up  near  the  walls  of  Worcester  the 
hearth  of  an  old  Roman  iron-furnace. 

"  It  was  an  open  hearth  upon  which  was  placed  alter- 
nately charcoal  and  ironstone,  to  which  fire  being  applied ; 
it  was  urged  by  men  treading  upon  bellows.  The  opera- 
tion was  very  slow  and  imperfect.  Unless  the  ore  was  very 
rich,  not  more  than  one  hundredweight  of  iron  could  be 
extracted  in  a  day.  The  ironstone  did  not  melt,  but  was 
found  at  the  bottom  of  the  hearth  in  a  large  lump  or 
bloom,  which  was  afterwards  taken  out  and  beaten  under 
massive  hammers  previous  to  its  being  worked  into  the 
required  shape  or  form." 

The  burrs  found  are  the  sand  and  iron  mixed  that 
encased  the  bloom,  which  was  taken  out  by  pincers 
and  worked  on  the  anvil.  The  scoria  that  encased 
the  bloom  was  thrown  aside,  and  yet  contains  more 
than  one-half  of  iron.  The  iron  reduced  in  this 
simple  manner  never  ran,  but  it  became  soft  like 
dough,  and  could  be  removed  and  beaten  into 
shape. 

The  method  of  dealing  with  the  tin  was  similar, 
only  that  in  this  latter  case  the  metal  flowed.     That 


HOW  TIN  WAS  EXTRACTED    113 

foot  bellows  were  employed  before  the  system  of 
working  bellows,  and  producing  a  continuous  blast 
by  means  of  a  water-wheel,  is  most  probable.  The 
foot  bellows  are  known  to  most  primitive  people, 
but  in  Agricola's  illustration  of  the  smelting  of  tin 


SLAG-POUNDING   HOLLOWS,  GOBBETTS. 


f 


none  are  shown.  On  the  contrary,  ^olus  is  repre- 
sented in  the  corner  as  blowing  a  natural  blast. 

The  book  of  Agricola,  published  in  1556,  shows 
that  this  primitive  method  was  still  in  practice  so 
late  as  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

But  this  clumsy  method  could  not  be  long  prac- 
tised on  Dartmoor,  where  fuel — except  peat — was 
I 


114 


TIN-STREAMING 


scarce ;  and  it  gave  way  to  a  furnace  of  better  con- 
struction, where  the  receiver  was  circular,  and  a 
draught-hole  was  at  the  bottom.     One  of  these  has 


SMELTING  ORE.     {After  Agricola.) 


been  dug  out  and  carefully  examined  at  Deep  Swin- 
combe. 

It  consists  of  a  single  chamber,  i8  feet  by  ii  feet, 
rudely  constructed  of  masses  of  granite  resting  on 


l^ 

g 

u 

2; 

?  .>^ 

^^'^ 

^' 

^vl 

Q 

^ 

1S 

:C§|«:      ^ 


^''^"'■■•4;/.,:iiiaa^;;^ 


ii6  TIN-STREAMING 

one  another  by  their  own  weight  and  unset  in  mortar 
or  in  clay.  The  entrance  was  narrow  and  low.  On 
one  side  was  the  furnace,  constructed  of  granite,  one 
slab  set  upright  to  form  a  side,  and  the  back  and 
other  side  built  up  rudely.  A  fragment  of  the 
receptacle  for  the  molten  tin  was  found,  with  a 
receiver  and  channel  cut  in  it.  Pottery  was  also 
found,  which  was  of  a  very  early  description.  It 
was  submitted  to  the  late  Sir  WoUaston  Franks,  of 
the  British  Museum,  who  said  that  he  would  have 
attributed  it  to  the  Celtic  period  but  for  the  bold 
scores  made  at  the  starting-point  of  a  handle,  which 
are  characteristic  of  Anglo-Saxon  pottery. 

At  the  extremity  furthest  from  the  door  was  a 
cache  in  the  thickness  of  the  wall,  formed  something 
like  a  kistvaen,  as  a  place  in  which  to  store  the  metal 
and  tools.  The  whole  structure  was  banked  up  with 
rubble  and  turf. 

Outside  to  the  south  still  lies  a  mould-stone,  a  slab 
of  elvan,  in  which  the  mould  had  been  cut,  measuring 
26  inches  long  by  12  inches  at  one  end  and  15  at  the 
other,  and  5  inches  deep. 

That  this  is  the  earliest  tin-furnace  yet  discovered 
on  Dartmoor  admits  of  no  doubt.  The  curious  mould- 
stone  is  quite  different  in  shape  from  any  others 
found  on  the  moor.  No  mortar  -  stones  were  dis- 
covered, and  this  also  is  a  token  of  antiquity. 

The  earliest  smelting  arrangements  must  have 
been  very  crude,  and  much  tin  was  left  in  the  slag. 
Until  recently  the  Malays  threw  away  their  slags, 
which  contained  as  much  as  40  per  cent,  of  tin.  As 
there  have   been  no   mortar- stones   found  at  Deep 


SMELTING 


117 


Swincombe,  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  tinners 
disregarded  their  slags.  These  have  not,  moreover, 
been  found.  The  reason  was  this — the  sets  had  been 
reworked  at  a  later  time  by  the  tinners  at  Gobbetts, 
further  down  the  river.     These  later  men  had  stone 


TIN-MOULD,   DEEP  SWINCOMBE. 

mortars  and  a  crazing  mill,  and  finding  these  rich 
slags,  removed  them,  pounded  them  up  in  the 
hollowed  mortar-stones,  that  may  be  seen  in  situ 
at  Gobbetts,  and  resmelted  them.  Deep  Swincombe 
has  all  the  appearance  of  having  been  much  pulled 
about  by  tinners  since  the  first  furnace  was  erected. 

The  tin  running  out  of  the  furnace  was  allowed  to 
flow  into  holes  in  the  ground,  and  thence  was  ladled 


ii8  TIN-STREAMING 

whilst  in  a  molten   condition   and  poured  into  the 
moulds. 

Mr.  Gowland  has  given  a  most  interesting  account 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  metals  are  extracted  from 
their  ores  in  Japan.*  This  shows  how  that  the 
primitive  methods  are  still  in  practice  there.  He 
says : — 

"Although  tin  ore  is  found  and  worked  in  Japan  in 
several  localities,  there  is  but  one  ancient  mine  in  the 
country.  It  is  situated  in  Taniyama,  in  the  province  of 
Satsuma.  The  excavations  of  the  old  miners  here  are  of 
a  most  extensive  character,  the  hillsides  in  places  being 
literally  honeycombed  by  their  burrows,  indicating  the 
production  in  past  times  of  large  quantities  of  the  metal. 
No  remains,  however,  have  been  found  to  give  any  clue 
to  the  date  of  the  earliest  workings.  But  whatever  may 
have  been  their  date,  the  processes  and  appliances  of  the 
early  smelters  could  not  have  been  more  primitive  than 
those  I  found  in  use  when  I  visited  the  mines  in  1883. 

"The  ore  was  roughly  broken  up  by  hammers  on  stone 
anvils,  then  reduced  to  a  coarse  powder  with  the  pounders 
used  for  decorticating  rice,  the  mortars  being  large  blocks 
of  stone  with  roughly  hollowed  cavities. 

"  It  was  finally  ground  in  stone  querns,  and  washed  by 
women  in  a  stream  to  remove  the  earthy  matter  and  foreign 
minerals  with  which  it  was  contaminated.  The  furnace  in 
which  the  ore  was  smelted  is  exactly  the  same  as  that  used 
for  copper  ores,  excepting  that  it  is  somewhat  less  in 
diameter.  The  ore  was  charged  into  it  wet,  in  alternate 
layers  with  charcoal,  and  the  process  was  conducted  in 
precisely  the  same  way  as  in  smelting  oxidised  copper  ores. 
The  tin  obtained  was  laded  out  of  the  furnace  into  moulds 
of  clay." 

*  Archceologia,  vol.  Ivi.  part  2,  1899. 


JAPANESE    METHODS  119 

The  furnace  employed  for  copper  is  also  described 
by  Mr.  Govvland  : — 

"An  excavation,  measuring  about  4  feet  long,  4  feet  wide, 
and  2  feet  deep,  is  made,  and  this  is  filled  with  dry  clay 
carefully  beaten  down.  In  the  centre  of  this  bed  of  clay 
a  shallow,  conical-shaped  hole  is  scooped  out.     The  hole  is 


SMELTING  TIN   IN  JAPAN. 


then  lined  with  a  layer,  about  three  inches  thick,  of  damp 
clay  mixed  with  charcoal,  and  the  furnace  is  complete. 

"  It  has  no  apertures  either  for  the  injection  of  the  blast 
or  for  tapping  out  the  metal.  A  blast  of  air  is  supplied  to 
it  generally  from  two  bellows,  placed  behind  a  wall  of  wattle 
well  coated  with  clay,  by  which  they  and  the  men  working 
them  are  protected  from  the  heat.  The  blast  is  led  from 
each  bellows  by  a  bamboo  tube,  terminating  in  a  very  long 
nozzle  of  clay,  which  rests  on  the  edge  of  the  furnace  cavity." 


I20  TIN-STREAMING 

At  Deep  Swincombe  no  bellows  were  used ;  the 
draught  probably  came  in  through  the  hole  behind 
the  furnace. 

But  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  a  great  revo- 
lution in  the  smelting  of  tin  was  wrought  by  the 
introduction  of  German  workmen  and  their  improved 
methods.  They  brought  in  the  water-wheel.  The 
ruins  that  are  found  in  such  abundance  of  "  blowing- 
houses,"  as  they  are  called — one  at  the  least  beside 
every  considerable  stream — belong,  for  the  most  part, 
to  the  Elizabethan  period.  They  have  their  "leats" 
for  carrying  water  to  them,  and  their  pits  for  tiny 
wheels  that  worked  the  bellows. 

The  situation  of  these  smelting-houses  may  be 
found  usually  by  the  mould-stones  that  lie  near  them. 
There  is  one  below  the  slide  or  fall  of  the  Yealm, 
with  its  moulds  in  and  by  it,  and  another  just  above 
the  fall.  There  is  one  near  the  megalithic  remains  at 
Drizzlecombe,  also  with  its  mould-stones.  But  it 
is  unnecessary  to  particularise  when  they  are  so 
numerous.  I  will,  however,  quote  Mr.  R.  Burnard's 
description  of  two  in  the  Walkham  valley  as  typical : 

"The  first  is  about  250  yards  above  Merrivale  Bridge, 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  river.  One  jamb  is  erect,  and,  like 
most  of  the  doorways  of  Dartmoor  blowing-houses,  was 
low,  and  to  be  entered  necessitated  an  almost  all-fours 
posture.  Very  little  of  the  walls  is  standing,  but  what 
remains  is  composed  of  large  moor-stones,  dry  laid.  Near 
the  entrance  is  a  stone,  3  feet  long  and  2 J  feet  wide, 
containing  a  mould,  which  at  the  tgp  is  18  inches  long, 
13  inches  wide,  and  6  inches  deep.  The  sides  are  bevelled, 
so  that  the  bottom  length  is  12  J  inches,  with  a  width  of 


THE  TIN-MOULD  STONES     121 

7  inches  at  one  end  and  8  inches  at  the  other.  One  end 
of  the  mould  has  a  narrow  gutter  leading  from  the  top  to 
halfway  down  the  mould.  This  was  probably  used  for  the 
insertion  of  a  piece  of  iron  prior  to  the  metal  being  run  in, 
thus  permitting  the  easy  withdrawal  of  the  block  of  tin 
when  cool  from  the  mould.  This  stone  also  contains  a 
small  bevelled  ingot  or  sample  mould,  4  inches  long,  2 
inches  wide,  and  ij  inches  deep. 

"A  water-wheel  probably  stood  in  the  eastern  recess  of 
the  house,  for  there  is  a  covered  drain  leading  from  here 
right  under  the  house  and  out  at  the  western  end,  where 
the  water  was  discharged  into  the  river.  Traces  of  the 
leat  which  supplied  the  motive  power  to  this  wheel  may 
also  be  seen. 

"What  appear  to  be  the  remains  of  the  furnace,  con- 
sisting of  massive  stones  placed  vertically,  and  inclosing 
a  small  rectangular  space,  are  plainly  visible.  In  this 
place,  lying  askew,  as  if  it  had  been  thrown  out  of  position, 
is  a  large  stone  containing  a  long,  shallow  cavity,  which 
may  have  been  the  bottom  of  the  furnace  or  'float,'  ue. 
the  cavity  in  which  the  molten  tin  collected  before  being 
ladled  into  the  mould. 

"  This  ruin  Hes  at  the  nether  end  of  deep,  open  cuttings, 
which  start  from  near  Rundlestone  Corner,  and  are  con- 
tinued right  down  to  the  Walkham. 

"About  1,000  yards  up  stream  is  the  ruin  of  the  other 
blowing-house,  with  remains  of  a  wheel-pit  and  a  leat. 
There  is  also  a  stone  containing  a  mould  16  inches  long 
at  the  top,  II  inches  wide,  and  6  inches  deep.  It  is 
bevelled,  so  that  the  bottom  length  is  12 J  inches,  with  a 
width  of  8  inches.  Like  the  mould-stone  in  the  ruin  be- 
low, it  contains  a  sample  ingot  mould  3 J  inches  long, 
3  inches  wide,  and  2  inches  deep.  The  remains  in  these 
ruins  are  very  similar  to  each  other,  and  these  blowing- 


122        .       TIN-STREAMING 

houses  were  probably  smelting  during  the  same  period, 
indicating  that  a  considerable  quantity  of  tin  was  raised 
in  their  neighbourhood."* 

Anciently,  before  the  introduction  of  the  wheel, 
the  smelting-place  above  all  others  was  at  King's 
Oven,  or  Furnum  Regis,  near  the  Warren  Inn,  be- 
tween Post  Bridge  and  Moreton.  It  is  mentioned 
in  the  Perambulation  of  Dartmoor^  made  in  1240.  It 
consists  of  a  circular  inclosure  of  about  seventy-two 
yards  in  diameter,  forming  a  pound,  with  the  remains 
of  a  quadrangular  building  in  it.  The  furnace  itself 
was  destroyed  some  years  ago.  When  the  inclosure 
was  made  it  was  carried  to  a  cairn  that  was  in  part 
demolished,  to  serve  to  form  the  bank  of  the  pound. 
This  cairn  was  ringed  about  with  upright  stones,  and 
contained  a  kistvaen.  The  latter  was  rifled,  and 
most  of  the  stones  removed  to  form  the  walls ;  but 
a  few  of  the  inclosing  uprights  were  not  meddled 
with,  and  between  two  was  found  firmly  wedged 
a  beautiful  flint  scraper. 

As  the  drift  tin  was  exhausted,  and  the  slag  of  the 
earlier  miners  was  used  up,  it  became  necessary  to 
run  adits  for  tin,  and  work  the  veins.  These  adits 
remain  in  several  places,  and  where  they  have  been 
opened  have  yielded  up  iron  bars  and  picks.  But 
these  are  not  more  ancient  than  mediaeval  times, 
probably  late  in  them.  That  gold  was  found  in  the 
granite  rubble  of  the  stream-beds  is  likely.  A  model 
of  a  gold-washing  apparatus  was  found  on  the  moor 
a  few  years  ago.     It  was  made  of  zinc. 

*  Dartmoor  Pictorial  Records ^  i893- 


TIN-STREAMERS  123 

According  to  an  old  Irish  historical  narrative,  a 
bard  was  wont  to  carry  a  wand  of  "white  bronze" 
or  tin,  and  his  shoes  were  also  tin-plated.*  One 
wonders  whether  at  any  time  a  bard  thus  shod  and 
with  his  rod  of  office  strode  over  Dartmoor  and 
chanted  historic  ballads  there ! 

For  such  as  would  care  to  see  these  dry  bones  of 
antiquarian  research  into  the  past  of  tin-streamers 
clothed  with  flesh,  I  must  refer  them  to  my  novel  of 
Guavas  the  Tinner,  in  which  I  have  described  the 
mode  of  life  of  the  metal-seekers  on  the  moor  in  the 
time  of  Elizabeth. 

*  Silva  Gadheiica,  ii.  p.  271. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

LYDFORD 

An  out-of-the-world  spot — The  church  dilapidated— The  clerk — 
Situation  of  Lydford — An  early  fortress — The  church  of  S.  Petrock 
— British  foundations— Monument  of  the  watchmaker— The  castle 
— A  prison — Mr.  Radford — Will  Huggins — Primitive  gate-hinges — 
The  gorge — The  waterfall— The  Gubbins  crew — Black  Down — 
Entries  in  the  registers  of  Mary  Tavy— Mary  and  Peter  Tavy 
churches— Bridestowe  church — Bronescombe's  Loaf  and  Cheese 
— Tavy  Cleave— Peat-works— Cross  on  Sourton  Down. 

FIFTY  years  ago  Lydford  was  one  of  the  most 
out-of-the-world  and  wild  spots  in  England. 
I  had  almost  written  God-forsaken,  but  checked  my 
pen,  for  God  forsakes  no  place,  though  He  may  tarry 
to  bless.  There  were  no  resident  gentry — there  never 
had  been,  as  a  glance  at  the  registers  reveals.  There 
was  no  resident  rector — there  had  not  been  within 
the  memory  of  the  oldest  inhabitant.  The  rector 
was  a  wealthy  pluralist,  rector  of  Southill  and 
Callington,  in  Cornwall,  who  hardly  ever  showed  his 
face  in  Lydford,  the  largest  parish  in  England,  and 
maintained  a  poor  curate  there  on  a  hundred  pounds 
a  year  in  a  miserable  cottage. 

The  people  were  a  law  to  themselves,  and  had  the 
credit  of  being  inveterate  poachers. 

The  houses,  thatched,  built  of  moor-stones,  not  set 
in  mortar,  were  in  a  ruinous  condition.     The  aspect 

124 


I  t  *  <;  c-       c  «  c  1 


THE    CHURCH  125 

of  the  place  was  that  of  an  Irish  village.  It  was 
dominated  by  a  ruined  castle,  and  possessed  a  church 
fast  lapsing  to  ruin,  and  was  girt  in  by  walls  long 
ago  reduced  to  heaps.  One  Christmas  Day  the 
curate  went  to  the  church  for  the  celebration  of  the 
Holy  Communion,  and  found  the  altar  covered  with 
snow  that  had  blown  in  through  the  battered  east 
window  and  under  the  cracked  slates  of  the  roof. 

"  I'll  sweep  it  off,"  said  the  clerk. 

"  On  no  account.  God  has  spread  His  table,"  said 
the  curate ;  and  he  celebrated  on  the  white  sheet  of 
snow. 

In  the  cottage  that  served  as  parsonage  it  was  not 
much  better.  The  curate  had  two  rooms  downstairs 
and  one  above.  One  room  was  slate -paved.  Up- 
stairs there  was  no  ceiling,  and  he  had  occasionally 
to  spread  his  umbrella  over  his  head  and  pillow  when 
he  went  to  bed. 

Now  all  is  changed,  or  changing. 

The  church  has  been  restored,  and  is  a  model  of 
what  a  church  should  be.  The  old  parsonage  has 
been  pulled  down,  and  stables  built  on  the  site,  and 
the  late  Mr.  Street,  the  architect,  erected  an  absurd 
Scottish  castle  with  angle  turrets  and  extinguisher 
caps  to  serve  as  rectory.  The  ruinous  houses  are 
being  replaced  by  trim,  if  ugly,  habitations.  Only 
the  gaunt  castle  remains  gutted. 

About  fifty  years  ago  the  clerk  was  addicted  to 
lifting  his  elbow  too  freely,  and  came  to  church  occa- 
sionally in  a  hilarious  condition.  The  climax  was 
reached  at  a  funeral,  when  he  tumbled  into  the  grave 
before  the  coffin,  and  apostrophised  the  dead  man 


126  LYDFORD 

as  he  scrambled  out :  "  Beg  parding,  Ted ;  I  bain't 
minded  to  change  places  wi'  you  just  yet." 

The  curate  was  compelled  to  discharge  him  and 
appoint  another,  Peter  X. 

The  old  clerk  refused  to  accept  his  dismissal,  and 
gathered  his  adherents,  and  on  the  ensuing  Sunday 
marched  at  their  head  to  the  house  of  God.  Peter, 
advised  of  this,  summoned  his  supporters,  and, 
having  the  keys,  ensconced  himself  early  within  the 
sacred  building,  in  the  clerk's  pew,  surrounded  by 
his  upholders.  The  rival  party  entered,  and  a  battle 
ensued  between  the  factions.  The  curate  absolutely 
refused  to  perform  the  service  to  the  clerking  of  the 
dismissed  official,  and  finally  the  latter  and  his  gang 
were  ejected  from  the  church,  loudly  professing  that 
they  would  all  turn  Dissenters. 

This  Peter  remained  clerk  for  fifty  years.  He 
obtained  a  subsidiary  revenue  by  carrying  children 
afflicted  with  "  the  thrush  "  up  the  tower,  and  holding 
them  over  the  battlements  at  each  pinnacle,  whilst 
he  recited  the  Lord's  Prayer.  For  this  he  received 
a  small  gratuity. 

He  was  a  most  worthy  man,  and,  as  he  is  now 
dead,  I  do  not  scruple  to  mention  that  the  story  I 
have  told  in  Furze  Bloom,  under  the  title  of  "  Peter 
Lempole,"  pertained  to  him.  He  never  married,  the 
reason  being  that  he  had  a  childish  old  brother 
entirely  dependent  on  him.  Peter  was  engaged  to 
a  bright,  pretty  girl ;  but  one  day  she  said  to  him, 
"When  us  is  married,  then,  mind  y',  Peter,  I'm  not 
going  to  have  that  silly  brother  of  yourn  in  the 
house  with  me."  "Indeed!"  was  Peter's  retort;  "then 
into  my  house  you  shall  never  come." 


SITUATION    OF    LYDFORD     127 

Lydford  occupies  a  tongue  of  land  between  two 
ravines,  one  cleft  perpendicularly  to  a  depth  of 
seventy  feet,  the  other  steep,  but  not  sheer  through 
rock.  The  old  line  of  fortifications,  much  degraded 
by  the  plough,  may  be  traced  distinctly,  nevertheless, 
across  the  only  portion  of  the  headland  by  which 
attack  was  possible.  It  is  the  sort  of  fortress  which 
goes  by  the  name  of  cliff  castle  on  the  Cornish  and 
Welsh  coasts. 

That  it  was  a  site  chosen  by  the  prehistoric  popu- 
lation is  undoubted.  Such  a  natural  fortress  could 
not  have  been  overlooked,  arid  it  was  held  since 
remote  times  till  the  Normans  came.  Yet,  notwith- 
standing the  position  being  almost  impregnable,  it 
was  taken,  and  the  town  of  Lydford  was  burnt  by 
the  Danes  in  997  after  they  had  destroyed  the 
Abbey  of  Tavistock.  From  Domesday  it  would 
appear  that  at  the  Conquest  Lydford  was  a  walled 
town.  It  sent  burgesses  to  Parliament  twice  in  the 
reign  of  Edward  I. 

The  church  is  dedicated  to  S.  Petrock,  and  at  its 
restoration  some  remains  of  the  old  British  church 
were  discovered  three  feet  below  the  pavement  of  the 
present  edifice.  The  slabs  that  had  lain  on  the  floor 
of  the  original  oratory  were  taken  up  and  placed 
within  the  doorway  of  the  present  church ;  so  that 
the  worshippers  may  stand  on  the  very  stones  on 
which  their  ancestors  stood  in  the  sixth  century. 
That  into  the  walls  of  the  reconstructed  church 
most  of  the  stones  of  the  original  edifice  were  in- 
corporated, is  more  than  probable. 

There  are  several  Petrock  churches  round  the  moor 


128  LYDFORD 

— Harford,  South  Brent,  Clannaborough ;  and  prob- 
ably the  original  founder  and  patron  of  Buckfast 
Abbey  was  this  saint. 

The  great  distinction  between  British  foundations 
and  those  that  were  Roman  was  this :  a  British  church 
was  called  after  its  founder,  whereas  a  Roman  church 
received  its  name  from  some  scraps  of  dead  bones 
of  a  saint  laid  under  the  altar,  or  placed  in  it. 
Unhappily,  we  have  no  record  of  S.  Petrock's  labours 
in  Devon,  but  there  can  exist  little  hesitation  in 
holding  that  he  was  an  apostle  of  the  district  about 
Dartmoor  and  of  a  tract  north  of  it  as  well,  as  also 
that  he  laboured  and  died  in  Cornwall. 

Here  is  what  Bede  tells  us  of  the  manner  of  con- 
secration among  the  Celts.  It  must  be  premised 
that  the  historian  is  speaking  of  Cedd,  Bishop  of 
the  East  Saxons  from  653  to  664,  to  whom  Oidil- 
vald.  King  of  the  Deisa,  had  given  a  piece  of  land. 
Cedd  had  received  his  training  from  Celtic  monks  at 
lona. 

"This  man  of  God,  wishing  by  prayer  and  fasting  to 
purge  the  place  of  its  former  pollution  of  wickedness,  and 
so  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  monastery,  entreated  the 
king  that  he  would  grant  him  the  means  and  permission 
to  dwell  there  for  that  purpose,  during  the  whole  time 
of  Lent,  which  was  then  at  hand.  In  all  the  days  of  this 
time,  except  on  Sundays,  he  fasted  till  the  evening,  accord- 
ing to  custom,  and  then  took  no  other  sustenance  than 
a  little  bread,  one  hen's  egg,  and  a  little  milk  mixed  with 
water.  This,  he  said,  was  the  custom  of  those  of  whom 
he  had  learned  the  rule  of  regular  discipline;  first  to 
consecrate  to  our  Lord,  by  prayer  and  fasting,  the  places 


CHURCH    OF   S.  PETROCK      129 

which  they  had  newly  received  for  building  a  monastery 
or  a  church. 

"When  there  were  ten  days  of  Lent  still  remaining 
there  came  a  messenger  to  call  him  to  the  king,  and  he, 
that  the  religious  work  might  not  be  intermitted,  on 
account  of  the  king's  affairs,  entreated  his  priest,  Cynebil, 
who  was  also  his  brother,  to  complete  the  work  that  had 
been  so  piously  begun.  Cynebil  readily  complied,  and 
when  the  time  of  fasting  and  prayer  was  over  he  there 
built  the  monastery,  which  is  now  called  Lastingham."  * 

The  name  Petrock  is  really  Peterkin,  the  Celtic 
diminutive  of  Peter,  and  it  is  probable  that  Peter 
Tavy  is  another  of  his  foundations,  as  v^^ell  as  certain 
other  churches  now  regarded  as  dedicated  to  the 
great  apostle. 

The  Saxons,  who  were  saturated  with  Latin  ideas, 
when  they  obtained  supremacy,  rededicated  the 
churches  to  saints  of  the  Roman  calendar,  if  they 
were  able  to  obtain  from  Italy  some  scraps  of  bone 
that  it  was  pretended  had  belonged  to  one  of  the 
saints  of  the  Latin  calendar.  But  there  is  no  evi- 
dence that  the  British  Christians  did  other  than  call 
their  churches  after  the  names  of  the  founders. 

Lydford  church  is  of  fifteenth-century  Perpen- 
dicular, but  in  the  chancel  is  an  earlier  piscina,  and 
the  font  is  possibly  pre-Norman.  The  chancel  screen 
is  gone,  but  the  rood  staircase  remains. 

In  the  churchyard  is  the  often-quoted  epitaph  of 
George  Routleigh : — 

"  Here  lies  in  horizontal  position 

the  outside  case  of 
George  Routleigh,  watch-maker, 

♦  Hist.  Eccl.^  iii.  c.  23. 


I30  LYDFORD 

whose  abilities  in  that  line  were  an  honour 

to  his  profession. 

Integrity  was  the  main-spring 

and  Prudence  the  regulator 

of  all  the  actions  of  his  life. 

Humane,  generous  and  liberal 

his  Hand  never  stopped 

till  he  had  relieved  distress. 

So  nicely  regulated  were  all  his  motions 

that  he  never  went  wrong, 

except  when  set  agoing 

by  people  who  did  not  know  his  key. 

Even  then  he  was  easily  set  right  again. 

He  had  the  art  of  disposing  his  time  so  well 

that  his  hours  glided  away 

in  one  continual  round 

of  pleasure  and  delight. 

Till  an  unlucky  minute  put  a  period  to 

his  existence. 

He  departed  this  life  Nov.  14,  1802, 

aged  57, 

wound  up 

in  hopes  of  being  taken  in  hand 

by  his  Maker 

and  of  being  thoroughly  cleaned,  repaired 

and  set  agoing 

in  the  World  to  Come." 

In  the  churchyard  may  be  noticed  some  altar 
tombs  of  the  type  not  infrequent  round  the  moor. 

Due  west  of  the  church,  across  the  graveyard 
hedge,  is  a  small  camp,  possibly  British. 

The  castle  is  planted  on  a  tump,  a  natural  eleva- 
tion artificially  shaped,  and  is  not  particularly  interest- 
ing.    It  is  square,  and  was  built  after  the  Conquest. 


THE    CASTLE  131 

By  a  charter  of  Edward*!,  it  was  constituted  a 
Stannary  prison.  Richard  Strode,  of  Newnham  Park, 
one  of  the  principal  gentry  of  the  county,  moved  in 
Parliament  to  restrain  the  miners  from  discharging 
their  refuse  into  the  rivers  with  the  result  of  choking 
up  the  harbours.  The  miners  were  so  incensed 
against  him  that  they  captured  him  in  15 12,  had 
him  summarily  tried  by  their  Stannary  Laws,  on 
Crockern  Tor,  and  threw  him  into  Lydford  gaol, 
where  he  languished  for  some  time,  and  it  was  with 
considerable  difficulty  that  his  release  was  obtained. 

What  with  Forest  Laws  and  Stannary  Laws, 
Lydford  Castle  rarely  lacked  tenants.  Even  in  1399 
Lydford  law  was  held  in  bad  repute,  for  Wright,  in 
his  collection  of  political  poems,  prints  some  verses 
of  that  date  which  speak  of  it  as  such ;  and  William 
Browne,  in  1644,  wrote  on  it : — 

"  I  oft  have  heard  of  Lydford  law, 
How  in  the  morn  they  hang  and  draw, 

And  sit  in  judgment  after  : 
At  first  I  wondered  at  it  much, 
But  soon  I  found  the  matter  such 

As  it  deserves  no  laughter. 

"  They  have  a  castle  on  a  hill ; 
I  took  it  for  some  old  wind-mill. 

The  vanes  blown  off  by  weather. 

Than  lie  therein  one  night  'tis  guessed 

'Twere  better  to  be  stoned  or  pressed 

Or  hanged,  ere  you  come  thither." 

And  so  on  for  sixteen  verses. 
Below  the  castle  is  the  water-gate  where  is  the 
only  spring  from  which  Lydford  town  was  supplied 


132  LYDFORD 

till  Mr.  Radford  brought  drinking  water  into  the 
place. 

With  Lydford  the  name  of  Daniel  Radford  will 
be  indissolubly  connected — one  of  the  noblest  and 
kindest  of  men,  and  one  of  the  most  modest.  He 
cut  the  way  up  the  ravine  by  which  the  gorge  was 
made  accessible.  When  I  was  a  boy  the  only  method 
by  which  it  could  be  explored  was  by  swimming  and 
scrambling  in  summer,  when  the  water  was  low. 
Mr.  Radford  built  Bridge  House  and  restored  the 
church.  It  was  due  to  him  that  I  undertook,  in 
1888,  to  collect  the  folk-music  in  Devon  and  Corn- 
wall ;  and  it  is  in  Lydford  churchyard  that  he  lies, 
awaiting  the  resurrection  of  the  just.  Not  without 
deep  feeling  can  I  pen  these  lines  to  commemorate 
one  of  the  best  men  whom  it  has  been  my  happiness 
to  know. 

As  I  have  mentioned  the  folk-music  of  Devon, 
I  may  here  add  that  one  of  my  assistants  was  old 
Will  Huggins,  of  Lydford,  a  mason,  who  entered 
enthusiastically  into  the  work.  I  had  an  attack 
of  influenza  in  the  winter  of  1889-90,  and  had  to 
leave  England  for  Italy.  Before  my  departure  Will 
promised  me  to  go  about  among  his  old  cronies  and 
collect  ancient  ballads.  Alas !  he  caught  a  chill ;  it 
fell  on  his  chest,  and  when  I  returned  in  the  spring, 
it  was  to  learn  that  he  was  gone. 

"  I'm  going,  I  reckon,  full  mellow 

To  lay  in  the  churchyard  my  head  ; 
^o  say,  God  be  wi'  you,  old  fellow, 
The  last  of  the  singers  is  dead." 


PRIMITIVE    GATE-HINGES      133 

In  the  village  street  may  be  noticed,  built  into  the 
hedge  or  wall,  a  piece  of  granite  with  a  round  hole 
like  a  rock  basin  depressed  in  it.  Actually  it  is  one 
of  the  stones  of  a  gate-hinge. 

Formerly  the  gates  around  Dartmoor  had  no  iron 
hinges,  but  turned  in  sockets  cut  in  granite  blocks. 
Few  of  these  now  remain  in  use,  but  the  stones  may 
be  noticed  lying  about  in  many  places,  and  it  is  really 


A  PRIMITIVE   HINGE. 


marvellous  that  the  antiquaries  of  the  past  did  not 
suppose  they  were  basins  for  sacrificial  lustration. 

In  1880  the  late  Mr.  Lukis  was  in  Devon,  planning 
the  rude  stone  monuments  on  Dartmoor  for  the  Royal 
Society  of  Antiquaries.  He  came  on  some  of  these 
cuplike  holes  in  stones,  and  carefully  measured  and 
drew  them.  Happily,  I  was  able  to  show  a  gate 
swinging  between  two  of  these  blocks,  and  so  explain 
to  him  their  purpose. 


134  LYDFORD 

The  Lydford  ravine  is  the  finest  of  its  kind  in 
England,  A  bridge  crosses  it,  and  it  is  worth  while 
looking  over  the  parapet  into  the  gulf  below,  through 
which  the  river  writhes  and  leaps.  The  gardens 
of  Bridge  House  are  thrown  open  on  Mondays,  when 
a  visitor  may  descend  and  thread  the  gorge.  But 
decidedly  the  best  way  for  him  to  see  the  beauties 
of  the  Lyd  valley,  where  most  restricted  and  romantic, 
is  for  him  to  descend  at  the  waterfall,  a  pretty  but  not 
grand  slide  of  a  lateral  brook,  and  ascend  the  ravine 
of  the  Lyd  from  thence ;  he  will  pass  through  the 
gorge  where  finest,  under  the  bridge,  and  pursue  his 
course  till  he  comes  out  at  a  mill  below  the  south 
gate  of  Lydford.  Hence  a  half-mile  will  take  him  to 
Kitt's  Steps,  another  fall,  a  leap  of  the  Lyd  into 
a  basin  half  choked  with  the  rubbish  from  a  mine. 
The  mine  happily  failed,  but  it  has  left  its  heaps  in 
the  glen  as  a  permanent  disfigurement. 

Considerable  caution  must  be  exercised  in  ascend- 
ing the  gorge,  as  the  path  is  narrow,  and  in  places 
slippery.  A  schoolmistress  was  killed  here  a  few 
years  ago.  She  turned  to  look  at  the  sun  glancing 
through  the  leaves  at  the  entrance  of  the  chasm, 
became  giddy,  and  fell  over.  She  was  dead  when  her 
body  was  recovered. 

Inhabiting  the  valley  and  lateral  combes  of  the 
Lyd,  in  the  time  of  Charles  I.  and  the  Common- 
wealth, was  a  race  of  men  called  the  Gubbinses. 
They  were  wild  and  lawless,  and  maintained  them- 
selves by  stealing  sheep  and  cattle,  and  carrying  them 
into  the  labyrinth  of  glens  where  they  could  not  be 
traced. 


THE   GUBBINS   CREW         135 

Fuller,  in  his  account  of  the  wonders  of  the  county 
of  Devon,  includes  the  Gubbinses.  He  heard  of  them 
during  his  stay  in  Exeter,  1644-7. 

"  I  have  read  of  an  England  beyond  Wales,  but  the 
Gubbings  land  is  a  Scythia  within  England,  and  they  be 
pure  heathens  therein.  It  lyeth  near  Brenttor,  in  the  edge 
of  Dartmore.  .  .  .  They  are  a  peculiar  of  their  own  making, 
exempt  from  Bishop,  Archdeacon,  and  all  Authority,  either 
ecclesiastical  or  civil.  They  live  in  cotts  (rather  holes  than 
houses)  like  swine,  having  all  in  common,  multiplied,  with- 
out marriage,  into  many  hundreds.  Their  language  is  the 
drosse  of  the  dregs  of  the  vulgar  Devonian ;  and  the  more 
learned  a  man  is,  the  worse  he  can  understand  them.  Their 
wealth  consists  in  other  men's  goods,  and  they  live  by 
stealing  the  sheep  on  the  More,  and  vain  it  is  for  any  to 
search  their  Houses,  being  a  Work  beneath  the  pains  of  a 
Sheriff,  and  above  the  powers  of  any  constable.  Such 
their  fleetness,  they  will  out-run  many  horses :  vivacious- 
nesse,  they  outlive  most  men,  living  in  the  ignorance  of 
luxury,  the  Extinguisher  of  Life,  they  hold  together  like 
Burrs,  offend  One,  and  All  will  revenge  his  quarrel." 

William  Browne  speaks  of  them  as  near  Lydford  : — 

"And  near  thereto's  the  Gubbins'  cave, 
A  people  that  no  knowledge  have 

Of  law,  of  God,  or  men  ; 
Whom  Caesar  never  yet  subdued  ; 
Who've  lawless  liv'd  ;  of  manners  rude  ; 

All  savage  in  their  den. 

"  By  whom,  if  any  pass  that  way, 
He  dares  not  the  least  time  to  stay. 

But  presently  ihey  howl ; 
Upon  which  signal  they  do  muster 
Their  naked  forces  in  a  cluster, 
Led  forth  by  Roger  Rowle." 


136  LYDFORD 

It  cannot  be  said  that  the  race  is  altogether  extinct. 
The  magistrates  have  had  much  trouble  with  certain 
persons  living  in  hovels  on  the  outskirts  of  the  moor, 
who  subsist  in  the  same  manner.  They  carry  off 
lambs  and  young  horses  before  they  are  marked,  and 
when  it  is  difficult,  not  to  say  impossible,  for  the 
owners  to  identify  them.  Their  own  ewes  always 
have  doubles. 

In  the  West  Okement  valley,  in  a  solitary  spot, 
are  the  foundations  of  a  cottage  in  which  for  many 
years  a  man  lived,  preying  upon  the  flocks  and  cattle 
on  the  moor,  and  carrying  on  his  depredations  with 
such  cunning  that  he  was  never  caught.  It  was 
shrewdly  suspected  that  he  was  in  league  with  a 
number  of  small  farmers,  and  that  he  was  by  this 
means  able  to  pass  on  his  captures  and  ensure  their 
concealment. 

Black  Down  is  an  extensive  ridge  of  moorland 
traversed  by  the  high  road  from  Okehampton  to 
Tavistock.  The  highest  point  is  called  Gibbet  Hill, 
but  tradition  is  silent  as  to  who  hung  there. 

In  the  Mary  Tavy  register  occurs  this  entry : — 

''1691,  March  12,  William  Warden,  a  currier,  was 
whipped  by  the  Parson  and  Churchwardens  of  Whit- 
church, and  ordered  to  be  passed  on  as  a  wandering  rogue 
from  parish  to  parish,  by  the  officers  therein,  in  26  days 
to  his  native  place,  Cheshunt  in  Hertfordshire,  and  as  the 
Churchwardens  were  conveying  him  on  horseback  over 
Black  Down,  he  died  on  the  back  of  the  horse,  and  was 
buried  the  same  night." 

The  parson  of  Whitchurch  was  a  Mr.  Polwhele, 
who  was  also  justice  of  peace. 


REGISTERS  OF  MARY  TAVY    137 

Here  is  another  curious  entry  in  the  same  book 
of  registers : — 

"1756,  Sept.  12,  Robert  Elford,  was  baptized,  the  child 
of  Susanna  Elford  by  her  sister's  husband,  to  whom  she 
was  married  with  the  consent  of  her  sister,  the  wife,  who 
was  at  the  wedding." 

Here  the  union  is  not  with  a  deceased  wife's  sister, 
but  the  living  wife's  sister.  There  is  no  entry  relative 
to  this  marriage,  so  that  the  pair  must  have  got  their 
unhallowed  union  blessed  in  some  remote  parish, 
where  the  relationship  was  not  known. 

In  1760  William  Greedy,  sojourner,  and  Susanna 
Elford  had  their  banns  called,  but  there  is  no  entry 
of  a  marriage. 

Another  entry  in  the  same  register  book  is  sug- 
gestive of  a  scandal. 

"1627,  Aug.  5,  Baptized,  Nicolas  filius  Mri.  Johan. 
Cake  jam  senio  confecti." 

Mary  Tavy  church,  picturesquely  situated,  not  on 
the  Tavy,  but  on  a  little  confluent,  was  barbarously 
renovated  some  years  ago,  but  of  late  much  loving 
care  has  been  bestowed  upon  the  structure,  and  some- 
thing has  been  done  to  efface  the  mischief  wrought 
by  the  architect  who  had  dealt  with  it  previously. 
The  new  screen  is  remarkably  good,  and  in  accord- 
ance with  Devonshire  work  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  stained  glass  is  excellent. 

Peter  Tavy  church  was  disfigured  rather  later 
than  Mary  Tavy.  It  possessed  an  interesting  Tudor 
square   pew,  richly   carved,  and   with   posts   at   the 


138  LYDFORD 

corners  supporting  heraldic  beasts.  This  was  de- 
molished at  the  so-called  restoration.  Some  scraps 
have  been  preserved  and  worked  up  to  form  a  screen 
across  the  tower  arch.  All  the  modern  work  is  of 
the  vulgarest  description,  in  yellow  deal.  A  portion 
of  the  screen  with  saints  painted  on  it  is  preserved 
within  the  altar  rails. 

Peter  Tavy  Combe  must  on  no  account  be 
neglected ;  it  is  a  remarkably  picturesque  valley. 

Another  church  that  may  be  visited  from  Lydford 
is  Bridestowe,  dedicated  to  S.  Bridget,  who  had  a 
sanctuary  of  refuge  here,  now  called  the  Sentry. 
The  original  church  stood  in  a  different  position, 
and  contained  the  Norman  arch  now  erected  at  the 
entrance  to  the  church  avenue.  It  was  turned  into 
a  church-house,  then  became  ruinous  and  was  pulled 
down.  The  reason  for  the  removal  of  the  parish 
church  in  the  fifteenth  century  was  probably  because 
the  old  church  was  near  the  road  at  a  turn,  so  that 
there  was  not  space  available  to  enlarge  it. 

This  church  has  suffered  from  maltreatment  by 
a  late  rector,  who  tore  down  the  old  roodscreen, 
sawed  it  down  the  middle,  and  plastered  the  tracery 
so  treated  against  a  deal  dwarf  screen,  inverted, 
and  against  a  vestry  door.  To  make  matters  worse, 
he  boarded  the  entire  interior  of  the  chancel  with 
deal,  varnished.  It  presented  the  appearance  of  a 
cabin  of  a  ship.  This  has  now  happily  disappeared. 
It  is  greatly  to  be  desired  that  the  screen  should 
be  restored. 

Second  to  the  Dart  only  in  beauty  is  the  West 
Okement  that  comes  foaming  down  from  the  bogs 


BISHOP    BRONESCOMBE        139 

about  Cranmere  through  a  fine  ravine  between  Yes 
Tor  and  Amicombe  Hill.  If  the  river  be  followed 
up  from  Meldon  Viaduct,  a  point  is  reached  where  it 
rushes  over  a  barrier-of  rocks  fallen  from  Black  Tor, 
and  divides  about  an  islet.  But  perhaps  the  best  way 
to  see  this  valley  is  to  ascend  a  combe,  crossed  at  the 
foot  by  the  Lake  Viaduct,  and  follow  a  track  that 
sweeps  round  Sourton  Tor,  and  ascend  to  Brones- 
combe's  Loaf  and  Cheese,  where  is  a  fine  cairn. 
On  the  slope  between  Sourton  Tor  and  Brones- 
combe's  Loaf  lies  a  large  slab  of  granite  through 
which  a  dyke  of  el  van  has  been  thrust.  In  this 
elvan  have  been  cut  the  moulds  for  two  bronze 
axe-heads. 

Walter  Bronescombe  was  Bishop  of  Exeter  between 
1258  and  1280,  and  he  lies  buried  in  the  Cathedral 
under  a  fine  canopied  tomb.  The  ef^gy  is  of  his  own 
date,  and  gives  apparently  a  true  portrait  of  a  worthy 
prelate. 

One  day  he  was  visiting  this  portion  of  his  diocese, 
and  had  ventured  to  ride  over  the  moor  from  Widde- 
combe.  He  and  his  retinue  had  laboured  through 
bogs,  and  almost  despaired  of  reaching  the  confines 
of  the  wilderness.  Moreover,  on  attaining  Ami- 
combe Hill  they  knew  not  which  way  to  take,  for  the 
bogs  there  are  nasty ;  and  his  attendants  dispersed 
to  seek  a  way.  The  Bishop  w^as  overcome  with 
fatigue,  and  was  starving.  He  turned  to  his  chaplain 
and  said,  "  Our  Master  in  the  wilderness  was  offered 
by  Satan  bread  made  of  stones.  If  he  were  now  to 
make  the  same  offer  to  me,  I  doubt  if  I  should  have 
the  Christian  fortitude  to  refuse." 


I40  LYDFORD 

"Ah!"  sighed  the  chaplain,  "and  a  hunch  of  cheese 
as  well ! " 

"  Bread  and  cheese  I  could  not  hold  out  against," 
said  the  Bishop. 

Hardly  had  he  spoken  before  a  moorman  rose  up 
from  a  peat  dyke  and  drew  nigh ;  he  had  a  wallet 
on  his  back. 

"  Master  !  "  called  the  chaplain,  "  dost  thou  chance 
to  have  a  snack  of  meat  with  thee  ?  " 

"Ay,  verily,"  replied  the  moorman,  and  approached, 
hobbling,  for  he  was  apparently  lame.  "  I  have  with 
me  bread  and  cheese,  naught  else." 

"  Give  it  us,  my  son,"  said  the  Bishop  ;  "  I  will  well 
repay  thee." 

"  Nay,"  replied  the  stranger,  "  I  be  no  son  of  thine. 
And  I  ask  no  reward  save  that  thou  descend  from 
thy  steed,  doff  thy  cap,  and  salute  me  with  the  title 
of  master." 

"  I  will  do  that,"  said  the  Bishop,  and  alighted. 

Then  the  strange  man  produced  a  loaf  and  a  large 
piece  of  cheese. 

Now,  the  Bishop  was  about  to  take  off  his  cap  and 
address  the  moorman  in  a  tone  of  entreaty  and  by 
the  title  of  master,  when  the  chaplain  perceived  that 
the  man  had  one  foot  like  that  of  a  goat.  He 
instantly  cried  out  to  God,  and  signified  what  he 
saw  to  the  prelate,  who,  in  holy  horror,  made  the 
sign  of  t}^  cross,  and  lo !  the  moorman  vanished, 
and  the  bread  and  cheese  remained  transformed 
to  stone. 

Do  you  doubt  it?  Go  and  see.  Look  on  the 
Ordnance   Survey   map    and    you    will   find    Bread 


BISHOP    BRONESCOMBE        141 

and    Cheese    marked    there.      Only    Bronescombe's 
name  has  been  transformed  to  Brandescombe. 

But  the  Bishop,  to  make  atonement,  and  to 
ease  his  conscience  for  having  so  nearly  yielded 
to  temptation,  spent  great  sums  on  the  rebuilding 
of  his  cathedral. 

From  the  Bread  and  Cheese,  a  walk  along  the 
brow  of  the  hill  by  the  Slipper  Stones — so  called 
because  there  Bishop  Bronescombe  dropped  one 
of  the  coverings  of  his  feet — shows  the  valley  to 
perfection,  with  Black  Tor  rising  above  it,  and  Yes 
Tor  towering  high  aloft  in  the  rear.  By  the  stream 
below  is  a  stunted  copse,  a  relic  of  the  ancient  arms 
of  forest  that  stole  up  the  ravines  far  into  the  moor, 
but  of  which  now  hardly  any  remain.  At  Stinga 
Tor,  further  up,  is  a  fine  logan  rock.  The  visitor 
may  return  by  the  peat-works  and  the  noble  pile  of 
Lynx  Tor  to  the  valley  of  the  Lyd. 

An  interesting  excursion  may  be  made  to  Tavy 
Cleave.  The  course  to  be  adopted,  so  as  to  see  it  in 
perfection,  is  to  go  on  to  the  moor  from  the  Dartmoor 
Inn.  Here  in  its  proper  season,  August  to  October, 
the  field  gentian,  with  its  dull  purple  flowers,  may  be 
gathered.  A  descent  to  the  Lyd  by  some  old  mine 
works  opens  a  fine  view  of  Lynx,  Hare,  and  Doe 
Tors,  and  the  little  farm  named  after  the  latter  lies 
before  one,  solitary  in  the  midst  of  heather  and 
swamp.  Stepping-stones  allow  the  river  to  be 
crossed,  and  the  farm  is  reached  and  passed,  and 
Hare  Tor  is  aimed  at.  Old  stream-works  and  pro- 
specting pits  abound.  By  leaving  the  summit  of 
Hare  Tor  on  the  left,  a  cluster  of  rocks  rising  above 


142 


LYDFORD 


the  grass  and  heather  must  be  struck  at,  and  suddenly 
before  the  eye  opens  the  ravine  of  the  Tavy,  that 
foams  far  below  over  a  bar  of  red  granite. 

Between  the  rocks  and  Ger  Tor  is  a  cluster  of  hut 
circles  in  tolerable  preservation,  and  a  very  interesting 
collection  is  found  on  a  spur  of  Stannon,  on  the  further 
side  of  the  Tavy. 

Lynx  Tor  may  be  ascended  from  Lydford.  The 
summit  is  occupied  by  a  fine   mass  of  rocks,  and 


INSCRIPTION  ON  SOURTON   CROSS. 

commands  a  superb  view  as  far  as  the  Atlantic  in 
one  direction,  and  Plymouth  Sound  and  the  Channel 
in  another. 

Near  Lynx  Tor  are  the  peat -works  already 
mentioned.  Various  attempts  have  been  made  to 
find  for  the  peat  a  use  that  may  prove  commercially 
successful,  but  hitherto  these  attempts  have  not  been 
satisfactory  to  investors.  The  bogs  are  hungry,  and 
swallow  up  a  good  deal  of  money. 

Hence  a  short  diversion  will  take  to  the  logan 
rock  on  Stinga  Tor. 

On  Sourton  Down  stands  an  old  granite  cross  that 


SOURTON    CROSS  143 

bears  an  inscription  only  to  be  read  when  the  sun 
is  setting  and  casts  its  rays  aslant  over  the  face. 
Apparently  the  monolith  was  shaped  into  a  Latin 
cross  at  some  period  later  than  the  inscription,  which 
belongs  to  the  sixth  century.  It  is  headed  by  the 
early  Christian  symbol  of  the  ^,  but  badly  made. 
The  same  symbol  occurs  on  the  inscribed  stone  at 
Southill.  The  granite  is  of  a  very  coarse  texture, 
especially  where  the  figure  occurs  and  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  name. 

As  for  every  person,  so  for  every  place,  a  time 
comes  if  waited  for.  It  has  come  for  Lydford,  burnt 
by  Danes,  deserted  in  the  Middle  Ages,  abandoned 
by  its  rectors. 

"  At  six  o'clock  I  came  along 
And  prayed  for  those  that  were  to  stay 

Within  a  place  so  arrant ; 
Wide  and  ope  the  winds  so  roar, 
By  God's  grace  I'll  come  there  no  more 

Till  forc'd  by  a  tin  warrant." 

So  wrote  Browne  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

But  the  time  has  arrived  for  Lydford  at  last,  and 
now  in  summer  it  is  hardly  possible  for  a  visitor  to 
obtain  lodgings,  unless  he  has  written  to  secure  them 
months  before,  so  greatly  does  Lydford  attract  to  it 
those  who  have  eyes  to  see  beautiful  scenery  and 
hearts  to  appreciate  it. 


CHAPTER   X. 
BELSTONE 

Derivation  of  the  name — Phoenicians— Taw  Marsh — Artillery  practice 
on  the  moors — Encroachments— The  East  Okement — Pounds  and 
hut  circles — Stone  rows  on  Cosdon — Cranmere  Pool — Sticklepath 
—Christian  inscribed  stones— South  Zeal— West  Wyke— North 
Wyke — The  wicked  Richard  Weekes— South  Tawton  church — 
The  West  Okement— Yes  Tor— Camp  and  Roman  road — Throw- 
leigh. 

A  GOOD  deal  of  pseudo-antiquarianism  has  been 
expressed  relative  to  the  name  of  a  little  moor- 
land parish  two  and  a  half  miles  uphill  from  Oke- 
hampton.  It  is  now  called  Belstone,  and  it  has  been 
surmised  that  here  stood  a  stone  dedicated  to  Baal, 
whose  worship  had  been  introduced  by  the  Phce- 
nicians. 

I  must  really  quote  one  of  the  finest  specimens 
of  "exquisite  fooling"  I  have  ever  come  across.  It 
appeared  as  a  sub-article  in  the  Western  Morning 
News  in   1890. 

It  was  headed  : — 

"Phcenicians  in  Dart  Vale. 

•'[special.] 

"Much   interest,   not   only   local    but   world-wide,   was 

aroused  a  few  months   back  by  the  announcement  of  a 

Phoenician   survival   at   Ipplepen,    in   the   person   of   Mr. 

Thomas  Ballhatchet,  descendant  of  the  priest  of  the  Sun 

144 


PHCENICIANS  IN  DART  VALE    145 

Temple  there,  and  until  lately  owner  of  the  plot  of  land 
called  Baalford,  under  Baal  Tor,  a  priestly  patrimony, 
which  had  come  down  to  him  through  some  eighteen 
or  twenty  centuries,  together  with  his  name  and  his  marked 
Levantine  features  and  characteristics. 

"Such  survivals  are  not  infrequent  among  Orientals,  as, 
for  instance,  the  Cohens,  Aaron's  family,  the  Bengal  Brah- 
mins, the  Rechabites,  etc.  Ballhatchet's  sole  peculiarity  is 
his  holding  on  to  the  land,  in  which,  however,  he  is  kept 
in  countenance  in  England  .by  the  Purkises,  who  drew  the 
body  of  Rufus  to  its  grave  in  Winchester  Cathedral  on 
2nd  August,  1 100. 

"  Further  quiet  research  makes  it  clear  beyond  all  manner 
of  doubt  that  the  Phoenician  tin  colony,  domiciled  at 
Totnes,  and  whose  Sun  Temple  was  located  on  their  eastern 
sky-line  at  Ipplepen,  have  left  extensive  traces  of  their 
presence  all  the  way  down  the  Dart  in  the  identical  and 
unaltered  names  of  places,  a  test  of  which  the  Palestine 
Exploration  Committee  record  the  priceless  value.  To  give 
but  one  instance.  The  beautiful  light-refracting  diadem 
which  makes  Belliver"*^  the  most  striking  of  all  her  sister 
tors,  received  from  the  Semite  its  consecration  as  '  Baal- 
livyah,'  Baal,  crown  of  beauty  or  glory.  The  word  itself 
occurs  in  Proverbs  i.  9  and  iv.  9,  and  as  both  Septuagint 
and  Vulgate  so  render  it,  it  must  have  borne  that  meaning 
in  the  third  century  b  c,  and  in  the  third  century  a.d.,  and, 
of  course,  in  the  interval.  There  are  many  other  instances 
quite  as  close,  and  any  student  of  the  new  and  fascinating 
science  of  Assyriology  will  continually  add  to  them.  A 
portrait  of  Ballhatchet,  with  some  notes  by  an  eminent  and 
well-known  Semitic  scholar,  may  probably  appear  in  the 
Graphic ;  in  the  meantime  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  his 

*  Belliver  is  a   modern   contraction  of  Bellaford,    as   Redever   is 
Redaford. 


146  BELSTONE 

name  is  typically  Babylonian.  Not  only  is  there  at  Pantel- 
laria  the  gravestone  of  one  Baal-yachi  (Baal's  beloved),  but 
no  less  than  three  clay  tablets  from  the  Sun  Temple  of 
Sippara  (the  Bible  Sepharvaim)  bear  the  names  of  Baal- 
achi-iddin,  Baal-achi-utsur,  and  Baal-achi-irriba.  This  last, 
which  bears  date  22  Si  van  (in  the  eleventh  year  of  Naboni- 
dus,  B.C.  540),  just  two  years  before  the  catastrophe  which 
followed  on  Belshazzar's  feast,  is  in  the  possession  of  Mr. 
W.  G.  Thorpe,  f.s.a.  It  is  in  beautiful  condition,  and 
records  a  loan  by  one  Dinkiva  to  Baal-achi-irriba  (Baal  will 
protect  his  brother),  on  the  security  of  some  slaves." 

One  really  wonders  in  reading  such  nonsense  as 
this  whether  modern  education  is  worth  much,  when 
a  man  could  write  such  trash  and  an  editor  could 
admit  it  into  his  paper. 

Ballhatchet  means  the  hatchet  or  gate  to  a  ball, 
i.e.  a  mine. 

As  it  happens,  there  is  not  a  particle  of  trustworthy- 
evidence  that  the  Phoenicians  ever  traded  directly 
with  Cornwall  and  Devon.  The  intermediary  traders 
were  the  Veneti  of  what  is  now  Vannes,  and  the  tin 
trade  was  carried  through  Gaul  to  Marseilles,  as  is 
shown  by  traces  left  on  the  old  trade  route.  In  the 
next  place,  there  is  no  evidence  that  our  British 
or  Ivernian  ancestors  ever  heard  the  name  of  Baal. 
And  finally,  Belstone  is  not  named  after  a  stone  at 
all,  to  return  to  the  point  whence  we  started.  In 
Domesday  it  is  Bellestham,  or  the  ham,  meadow  of 
Belles  or  Bioll,  a  Saxon  name  that  remains  among 
us  as  Beale. 

Belstone  is  situated  at  the  lip  of  Taw  Marsh,  once 
a  fine  lake,  with  Steeperton  Tor  rising  above  it  at 


ARTILLERY    PRACTICE         147 

the  head.  Partly  because  the  river  has  fretted  a 
way  through  the  joints  of  the  granite,  forming  Bel- 
stone  Cleave,  and  partly  on  account  of  the  silting  up 
of  the  lake-bed  with  rubble  brought  down  by  the 
several  streams  that  here  unite,  the  lake-bed  is  now 
filled  up  with  sand  and  gravel  and  swamp. 

The  military  authorities  coveted  this  tract  for 
artillery  practice.  They  set  up  butts,  but  woman 
intervened.  A  v^ery  determined  lady  marched  up  to 
them,  although  the  warning  red  flags  fluttered,  and 
planted  herself  in  front  of  a  target,  took  out  of  her 
reticule  a  packet  of  ham  sandwiches  and  a  flask  of 
cold  tea,  and  declared  her  intention  of  spending  the 
day  there.  In  vain  did  the  military  protest,  entreat, 
remonstrate ;  she  proceeded  to  nibble  at  her  sand- 
wiches and  defied  them  to  fire. 

She  carried  the  day. 

Since  then  Taw  Marsh  has  been  the  playfield  of 
many  children,  and  has  been  rambled  over  by 
visitors,  but  the  artillery  have  abstained  from  prac- 
tising on  it. 

The  fact  is  that  the  military  have  made  the  moors 
about  Okehampton  impossible  for  the  visitor,  and 
those  who  desire  to  rove  over  it  in  pursuit  of  health 
have  been  driven  from  Okehampton  to  Belstone,  and 
object  to  be  moved  on  further. 

What  with  the  camp  at  Okehampton  and  the 
prisons  at  Princetown  and  encroachments  on  every 
side,  the  amount  of  moorland  left  open  to  the  rambler 
is  greatly  curtailed. 

The  privation  is  not  only  felt  by  the  visitor  but 
also   by   the  farmer,  who  has  a  right   to   send  out 


148  BELSTONE 

his  sheep  and  cattle  upon  the  moor  in  summer,  and 
in  times  of  drought  looks  to  this  upland  as  his 
salvation. 

A  comparison  between  what  the  Forest  of  Dart- 
moor was  at  the  beginning  of  this  century  and  its 
condition  to-day  shows  how  inclosures  have  crept 
on — nay,  not  crept,  increased  by  leaps ;  and  what 
is  true  of  the  forest  is  true  also  of  the  commons 
that  surround  it.  Add  to  the  inclosed  land  the  large 
tract  swept  by  the  guns  at  Okehampton,  and  the 
case  becomes  more  grave  still.  The  public  have 
been  robbed  of  their  rights  wholesale.  Not  a  word 
can  now  be  raised  against  the  military.  The  Trans- 
vaal War  has  brought  home  to  us  the  need  we  have 
to  become  expert  marksmen,  and  the  Forest  of 
Dartmoor  seems  to  offer  itself  for  the  purpose  of 
a  practising-ground.  Nevertheless,  one  accepts  the 
situation  with  a  sigh. 

There  is  a  charming  excursion  up  the  East  Oke- 
ment  from  the  railway  bridge  to  Cullever  Steps, 
passing  on  the  way  a  little  fall  of  the  river,  not 
remarkable  for  height  but  for  picturesqueness.  There 
is  no  path,  and  the  excursion  demands  exertion. 

On  Belstone  Common  is  a  stone  circle  and  near  it 
a  fallen  menhir.  The  circle  is  merely  one  of  stones 
that  formed  a  hut,  which  had  upright  slabs  lining 
it  within  as  well  as  girdling  without. 

Under  Belstone  Tor,  among  the  "  old  men's  work- 
ings" by  the  Taw,  an  experienced  eye  will  detect 
a  blowing-house,  but  it  is  much  dilapidated. 

The  Taw  and  an  affluent  pour  down  from  the 
central   bog,  one  on  each   side  of   Steeperton   Tor, 


POUNDS  AND  HUT  CIRCLES    149 

and  from  the  east  the  small  brook  dances  into  Taw 
Marsh.  Beside  the  latter,  on  the  slopes,  are  numer- 
ous pounds  and  hut  circles,  and  near  its  source  is 
a  stone  circle,  of  which  the  best  uprights  have 
been  carried  off  for  gateposts.  South  of  it  is  a 
menhir,  the  Whitmoor  Stone,  leaning,  as  the 
ground  about  it  is  marshy.  Cosdon,  or,  as  it  is 
incorrectly  called  occasionally,  Cawsand,  is  a  huge 
rounded  hill  ascending  to  1,785  feet,  crowned  with 
dilapidated  cairns  and  ruined  kistvaens.  East  of  the 
summit,  near  the  turf  track  from  South  Zeal,  is  a 
cairn  that  contained  three  kistvaens.  One  is  perfect, 
one  wrecked,  and  of  the  third  only  the  space  re- 
mained and  indications  whence  the  slabs  had  been 
torn.  From  these  three  kistvaens  in  one  mound 
start  three  stone  rows  that  are  broken  through  by 
the  track,  but  can  be  traced  beyond  it  for  some 
way ;  they  have  been  robbed,  as  the  householders  of 
South  Zeal  have  been  of  late  freely  inclosing  large 
tracts  of  their  common,  and  have  taken  the  stones 
for  the  construction  of  walls  about  their  fields. 

By  ascending  the  Taw,  Cranmere  Pool  may  be 
reached,  but  is  only  so  far  worth  the  visit  that  the 
walk  to  and  from  it  gives  a  good  insight  into  the 
nature  of  the  central  bogs.  The  pool  is  hardly  more 
than  a  puddle.  Belstone  church  is  not  interesting ; 
it  was  rebuilt,  all  but  the  tower,  in  1881. 

Under  Cosdon  nestles  Sticklepath.  "  Stickle  "  is  the 
Devonshire  for  steep.  Here  is  a  holy  well  near  an 
inscribed  stone.  A  second  inscribed  stone  is  by  the 
roadside  to  Okehampton.  At  Belstone  are  two  more, 
but   none   of  these   bear   names.     They  are  Chris- 


I50 


BELSTONE 


tian  monuments  of  the  sixth,  or  at  latest  seventh, 
century.  At  Sticklepath  was  a  curious  old  cob 
thatched  chapel,  but  this  has  been  unnecessarily 
destroyed,  and  a  modern  erection  of  no  interest  or 


INSCRIBED  STONE,    STICKLEPATH. 


beauty  has  taken  its  place.  South  Zeal  is  an  in- 
teresting little  village,  through  which  ran  the  old 
high-road,  but  which  is  now  left  on  one  side.  For 
long  it  was  a  treasury  of  interesting  old  houses ; 
many  have  disappeared  recently,  but  the  "  Oxenham 
Arms,"  the  seat  of  the  Burgoyne  family,  remains, 
the  fine  old  village  cross,  and  the  chapel,  of  granite. 


SOUTH    ZEAL  151 

Above  South  Zeal,  on  West  Wyke  Moor,  is  the 
house  that  belonged  to  the  Battishill  family,  with 
a  ruined  cross  near  it.  The  house  has  been  much 
spoiled  of  late ;  the  stone  mullions  have  been  re- 
moved from  the  hall  window,  but  the  ancient  gate- 
way, surmounted  by  the  Battishill  arms,  and  with 
the  date  1656,  remains  untouched.  It  is  curious, 
because  one  would  hardly  have  expected  a  country 
gentleman  to  have  erected  an  embattled  gateway 
during  the  Commonwealth,  and  in  the  style  of  the 
early  Tudor  kings.  In  the  hall  window  are  the 
arms  of  Battishill,  impaled  with  a  coat  that  can- 
not be  determined  as  belonging  to  any  known 
family.  In  the  same  parish  of  South  Tawton  is 
another  old  house,  North  Wyke,  that  belonged  to 
the  Wyke  or  Weekes  family.  The  ancient  gate- 
house and  chapel  are  interesting ;  they  belong,  in 
my  opinion,  to  the  sixteenth  century,  and  to  the 
latter  part  of  the  same.  The  chapel  has  a  corbel, 
the  arms  of  Wykes  and  Gifford  ;  and  John  Wyke 
of  North  Wyke,  who  was  buried  in  1591,  married 
the  daughter  of  Sir  Roger  Gifford.  The  gateway 
can  hardly  be  earlier.  The  house  was  built  by  the 
same  man,  but  underwent  great  alteration  in  the 
fashion  introduced  from  France  by  Charles  II.,  when 
the  rooms  were  raised  and  the  windows  altered  into 
croisees. 

Touching  this  house  a  tale  is  told. 

About  the  year  1660  there  was  a  John  Weekes 
of  North  Wyke,  who  was  a  bachelor,  and  lived  in 
the  old  mansion  along  with  his  sister  Katherine, 
who  was  unmarried,  and  his  mother.     He  was  a  man 


152  BELSTONE 

of  weak  intellect,  and  was  consumptive.  John  came 
of  age  in  1658.  In  the  event  of  his  death  without 
will  his  heir  would  be  his  uncle  John,  his  father's 
brother,  who  died  in  1680.  This  latter  John  had 
a  son  Roger. 

Now  it  happened  that  there  was  a  great  scamp 
of  the  name  of  Richard  Weekes,  born  at  Hatherleigh, 
son  of  Francis  Weekes  of  Honeychurch,  possibly  a 
remote  connection,  but  not  demonstrably  so. 

He  was  a  gentleman  pensioner  of  Charles  II.,  but 
spent  most  of  his  leisure  time  in  the  Fleet  Prison. 
One  day  this  rascal  came  down  from  London,  it 
is  probable  at  the  suggestion  of  consumptive  John's 
mother  and  sister,  who  could  not  be  sure  what  he, 
with  his  feeble  mind,  might  do  with  the  estate. 

Richard  ingratiated  himself  into  the  favour  of 
John,  and  urged  him  not  to  risk  his  health  in  so 
bleak  and  exposed  a  spot  as  South  Tawton,  but 
to  seek  a  warmer  climate,  and  he  invited  him  to 
Plymouth.     The  unsuspicious  John  assented. 

When  John  was  cajoled  to  Plymouth,  Richard 
surrounded  him  with  creatures  of  his  own,  a  doctor 
and  two  lawyers,  who,  with  Richard's  assistance, 
coaxed,  bullied,  and  persuaded  the  sickly  John  into 
making  a  deed  of  settlement  of  all  his  estate  in 
favour  of  Richard.  The  unhappy  man  did  this,  but 
with  a  curious  proviso  enabling  him  to  revoke  his 
act  by  word  as  well  as  by  deed.  Richard  had  now 
completely  outwitted  John's  mother  and  sister,  who 
had  been  conspirators  with  him,  on  the  understanding 
that  they  were  to  share  the  spoils. 

After  a  while,  when  it  was  clear  that  John  was 


NORTH   WVKE  GATE   HOUSE 


'  J       JJ      )        J       5  , 


RICHARD   WEEKES  153 

dying,  Richard  hurried  him  back  to  North  Wyke, 
where  he  expired  on  Saturday,  September  21st, 
1 66 1,  but  not  till  he  had  been  induced  by  his  mother 
and  sister  to  revoke  his  will  verbally,  for  they  had 
now  learned  how  that  the  wily  Richard  had  got  the 
better  of  them. 

Next  day,  Sunday,  Richard  Weekes  arrived, 
booted  and  spurred,  at  the  head  of  a  party  of  men 
he  had  collected.  With  sword  drawn  he  burst  into 
the  house,  and  when  Katherine  Weekes  attempted  to 
bar  the  way  he  knocked  her  down.  Then  he  drove 
the  widow  mother  into  a  closet  and  locked  the  door 
on  her.  He  now  cleared  the  house  of  the  servants, 
and  proceeded  to  take  possession  of  all  the  documents 
and  valuables  that  the  mansion  contained.  Poor 
John's  body  lay  upstairs :  no  regard  was  paid  to 
that,  and,  saying  "  I  am  come  to  do  the  devil's  work 
and  my  own,"  he  drove  Katherine  out  of  the  house, 
and  she  was  constrained  to  take  refuge  for  the  night 
in  a  neighbouring  farm.  The  widow,  Mary  Weekes, 
was  then  liberated  and  also  turned  out  of  doors. 

The  heir-at-law  was  the  uncle  John,  against  whom 
Mary  and  Katherine  Weekes  had  conspired  with  the 
scoundrel  Richard.  This  latter  now  sought  Uncle 
John,  made  him  ^runk,  and  got  him  to  sign  a  deed, 
when  tipsy,  conveying  all  his  rights  to  the  said 
Richard  for  the  sum  of  fifty  pounds  paid  down. 
Richard  was  now  in  possession.  The  widow  there- 
upon brought  an  action  in  Chancery  against  Richard. 
The  lawyers  saw  the  opportunity.  Here  was  a  noble 
estate  that  might  be  sucked  dry,  and  they  descended 
on  it  with  this  end  in  view. 


154  BELSTONE 

The  lawsuit  was  protracted  for  forty  years,  from 
1 66 1  to  1 70 1,  when  the  heirs  of  the  wicked  Richard 
retained  the  property,  but  it  had  been  so  exhausted 
and  burdened,  that  the  suit  was  abandoned  undecided. 
Richard  Weekes  died  in  1670. 

The  plan  resorted  to  in  order  to  keep  possession 
after  the  forcible  entry  was  this.  The  son  of  Richard 
Weekes  had  married  a  Northmore  of  Well,  in  South 
Tawton,  and  the  Northmores  bought  up  all  the 
debts  on  the  estate  and  got  possession  of  the  mort- 
gages, and  worked  them  persistently  and  success- 
fully against  the  rightful  claimants  till,  worried  and 
wearied  out,  and  with  empty  purses,  they  were 
unable  further  to  pursue  the  claim.  In  171 3  the 
estate  was  sold  by  John  Weekes,  the  grandson  of 
Richard,  who  had  also  married  a  Northmore,  and 
North  Wyke  passed  away  from  the  family  after 
having  been  in  its  possession  since  the  reign  of 
Henry  III. 

It  was  broken  up  into  two  farms,  and  the  house 
divided  into  two.  Recently  it  has,  however,  been 
repurchased  by  a  descendant  of  the  original  possessors, 
in  a  female  line,  the  Rev.  W.  Wykes  Finch,  and  the 
house  is  being  restored  in  excellent  taste. 

In  South  Tawton  church  is  a  fine  monument  of 
the  common  ancestor,  John  Wyke,  1591.  The  church 
has  been  renovated,  monumental  slabs  sawn  in  half 
and  used  to  line  the  drain  round  the  church  ex- 
ternally. With  the  exception  of  the  sun-dial,  bearing 
the  motto  from  Juvenal,  "  Obrepet  non  intellecta 
senectusl'  and  a  Burgoyne  monument  and  that  of 
"  Warrior  Wyke,"  the  church  does  not  present  much 


THE   WEST   OKEMENT         155 

of  interest  at  present,  whatever  it  may  have  done 
before  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  spoilers. 

The  West  Okement  comes  down  from  the  central 
bogs  through  a  fine  "Valley  of  Rocks,"  dividing  and 
forming  an  islet  overgrown  with  wild  rose  and  whortle- 
berry. Above  it  stands  Shilstone  Tor,  telling  by  its 
name  that  on  it  at  one  time  stood  a  cromlech,  which 
has  been  destroyed.  This  valley  furnishes  many 
studies  for  the  artist. 

Hence  Yes  Tor  may  be  ascended,  for  long  held 
to  be  the  highest  elevation  on  Dartmoor.  The 
highest  peak  it  is,  rising  to  2,030  feet,  but  it  is  over- 
topped by  the  rounded  High  Willhayes,  2,039  f*^^^- 
Between  Yes  Tor  and  Mill  Tor  is  a  rather  nasty  bog. 
Mill  Tor  consists  of  a  peculiar  granite ;  the  feldspar 
is  so  pure  that  speculators  have  been  induced  to 
attempt  to  make  soda-water  bottles  out  of  it,  by 
fusing  without  the  adjunct  of  other  materials. 

On  the  extreme  edge  of  a  ridge  above  the  East 
Okement,  opposite  Belstone  Tor,  is  a  camp,  much 
injured  by  the  plough.  Apparently  from  it  leads 
a  paved  raised  causeway  or  road,  presumed  to  be 
Roman  ;  but  why  such  a  road  should  have  been  made 
from  a  precipitous  headland  above  the  Okement,  and 
whither  it  led,  are  shrouded  in  mystery.  Near  this 
road,  in  1897,  was  found  a  hoard  of  the  smallest 
Roman  coins,  probably  the  store  of  some  beggar, 
which  he  concealed  under  a  rock,  and  died  without 
being  able  to  recover  it.  All  pertained  to  the  years 
between  A.D.  320  and  330. 

Of  Okehampton  I  will  say  nothing  here,  as  the 
place  has  had  a  chapter  devoted  to  it  in  my  Book  of 


156  BELSTONE 

the  West — too  much  space,  some  might  say,  for  in 
itself  it  is  devoid  of  interest.  Its  charm  is  in  the 
scenery  round,  and  its  great  attraction  during  the 
summer  is  the  artillery  camp  on  the  down  above 
Okehampton  Park.  On  the  other  side  of  Belstone, 
Throwleigh  may  be  visited,  where  there  are  numerous 
prehistoric  relics.  There  were  many  others,  but  they 
have  been  destroyed,  amongst  others  a  fine  inclosure 
like  Grimspound,  but  more  perfect,  as  the  inclosing 
wall  was  not  ruinous  throughout,  and  the  stones  were 
laid  in  courses.  The  pulpit  of  Throwleigh  church  is 
made  up  of  old  bench-ends. 


CHAPTER   XL 

CHAGFORD 

"  Chageyford  in  the  dirt " — The  making  of  Chagford — The  old  clerk — 
The  church — Tincombe  Lane— Chagford  Common — Flint  finds — 
Scaur  Hill  circle— Stone  rows — The  Tolmen — The  Teign  river — 
Camps  on  it — Drewsteignton  cromlech — Gidleigh — Old  farmhouses 
— Fernworthy — The  Grey  Wethers— Teignhead  House — Browne's 
House — Story  about  it — Grimspound — Birch  Tor  stone  rows — 
Chaw  Gully — The  Webburn. 

CHAGFORD  is  in  Domesday  written  Chageford, 
and  this  is  the  local  pronunciation  of  the  name 
at  the  present  day.  The  natives  say,  "  Chageford  in 
the  dirt— O  good  Lord  !  " 

But  Chagford  has  had  the  ability  and  promptitude 
to  get  out  of  the  dirt  and  prove  itself  to  be  anything 
but  a  stick-in-the-mud  place.  It  is  with  places  as 
with  people,  some  have  good  luck  fall  to  them,  others 
make  their  fortunes  for  themselves.  Okehampton 
belongs  to  the  former  class,  Chagford  to  the  latter. 
It  owes  almost  everything  to  a  late  rector,  who,  re- 
solved on  pushing  the  place,  invited  down  magazine 
editors  and  professional  litterateurs,  entertained  them, 
drove  them  about,  and  was  rewarded  by  articles 
appearing  in  journals  and  serials,  belauding  Chagford 
for  its  salubrious  climate,  its  incomparable  scenery, 
its  ready  hospitality,  its  rural  sweetness,  and  its 
archaeological  interest. 

157 


158  CHAGFORD 

Whither  the  writers  pointed  with  their  pens,  thither 
the  public  ran,  and  Chagford  was  made.  It  has  now 
every  appliance  suitable — pure  water,  electric  lighting, 
telephone,  a  bicycle  shop,  and  doctors  to  patch 
broken  heads  and  set  broken  limbs  of  those  upset 
from  the  "  bikes." 

Chagford  is  undoubtedly  a  picturesque  and  pleasant 
spot.  It  is  situated  near  Dartmoor,  and  is  sheltered 
from  the  cold  and  from  the  rainy  drift  that  comes 
from  the  south-west.  The  lodging-house  keepers 
know  how  to  make  visitors  comfortable,  and  to 
charge  for  so  doing.  The  church  has  been  restored, 
coaches  run  to  bring  visitors,  and  the  roads  and  lanes 
have  been  widened. 

I  recall  the  church  before  modern  ideas  had  pene- 
trated to  Chagford.  At  that  time  the  clerk,  who 
also  led  the  orchestra,  gave  out  the  psalm  from  his 
seat  under  the  reading-desk,  then,  whistling  the  tune, 
he  marched  slowly  down  the  nave,  ascended  to  the 
gallery  with  leisure,  and  the  performance  began. 

The  church,  dedicated  to  S.  Michael,  was  rebuilt 
in  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  when  the 
Gorges  family  owned  much  land  in  the  parish. 
Their  cognisance,  the  whirlpool,  a  canting  cognisance 
{gurges),  appears  in  the  bosses  of  the  roof  It  con- 
tains two  monuments  of  some  importance :  one  is 
a  handsome  stone  altar  tomb,  with  a  canopy  sup- 
ported on  columns,  in  memory  of  Sir  John  Whiddon, 
of  Whiddon  Park,  Judge  of  Queen's  Bench,  who 
died  in  1575;  the  other  is  to  commemorate  John 
Prouze,  who  died  in  1664. 

The  Three  Crowns  Inn,  opposite  the  church,  is  a 


TINCOMBE    LANE  159 

picturesque  building  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
Chagford  was  one  of  the  Stannary  towns,  but  no 
remains  of  the  court-house  exist. 

On  Mattadon,  above  the  town,  stands  a  rude  early 
cross  of  granite. 

The  ascent  to  the  moor  by  Tincombe  Lane,  as 
I  remember  it  half  a  century  ago,  was  no  better  than 
a  watercourse,  strewn  with  boulders,  to  be  scrambled 
up  or  down  at  the  risk  of  dislocation  of  the  ankle. 
It  then  well  merited  the  descriptive  lines  : — 

"  Tincombe  Lane  is  all  uphill 
Or  downhill,  as  you  take  it ; 
You  tumble  up,  and  crack  your  crown, 
Or  tumble  down  and  break  it. 

"  Tincombe  Lane  is  crook'd  and  straight, 
Here  pothook,  there  as  arrow, 
'Tis  smooth  to  foot,  'tis  full  of  rut, 
'Tis  wide,  and  then,  'tis  narrow. 

"  Tincombe  Lane  is  just  like  life. 

From  when  you  leave  your  mother  ; 
'Tis  sometimes  this,  'tis  sometimes  that, 
'Tis  one  thing  or  the  other." 

Now  all  is  changed.  A  steam-roller  goes  up  and 
down  Tincombe  Lane,  the  angles  have  been  rounded, 
the  precipitous  portions  made  easy,  the  ruts  filled  up. 
And  life  likewise  is  now  made  easy  for  the  rising 
generation — possibly  too  easy.  Ruggedness  had  a 
charm  of  its  own,  and  bred  vigour  of  constitution 
and  moral  physique. 

Chagford  having  lost,  by  death,  the  whistling  clerk, 
started   a   blind   organist.      Now,   also,  he   is  gone. 


i6o  CHAGFORD 

Every  peculiarity  is  being  crushed  out  of  modern  life 
by  the  steam-roller,  civilisation. 

Chagford  Common,  as  I  recall  it,  half  a  century 
ago,  was  strewn  thick  with  hut  circles.  One  ascended 
to  it  by  Tincombe  Lane  and  came  into  a  prehistoric 
world,  a  Pompeii  of  a  past  before  Rome  was.  It  was 
dense  with  hut  circles,  pounds,  and  every  sort  of  relic 
of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  moor.  But  in- 
closures  have  been  made,  and  but  a  very  few  relics 
of  the  aboriginal  settlement  remain.  One  of  the 
most  curious,  the  "  Roundy  Pound,"  only  escaped 
through  urgent  remonstrance  made  to  spare  it.  The 
road  carried  over  the  common  annually  eats  up  the 
remains  of  old,  as  the  road-menders  take  away  the 
stones  from  the  hut  circles  to  metal  the  highway. 

At  Batworthy,  one  of  the  inclosures,  there  must 
have  been  anciently  a  manufactory  of  flint  tools  and 
weapons.  Countless  spalls  of  flint  and  a  fine  collection 
of  fabricated  weapons  and  tools  have  been  found 
there,  and  the  collection  has  been  presented  from  this 
place  to  the  Plymouth  Municipal  Museum. 

On  Gidleigh  Common,  beside  the  Teign,  opposite 
Batworthy,  is  Scaur  Hill  circle.  It  consists  of  thirty- 
two  stones,  at  present,  of  which  eight  are  prostrate. 
The  highest  of  the  stones  is  a  little  over  six  feet. 
The  circle  is  ninety-two  feet  in  diameter.  Apparently 
leading  towards  this  ring,  on  the  Chagford  side  of 
the  river,  was  a  very  long  double  row  of  stones,  with 
a  second  double  row  or  avenue  branching  from  it. 

There  was  a  third  double  row,  which  started  from 
the  Longstone,  near  Caistor  Rock.  This  Longstone 
is  still  standing,  but  the  stone  rows  have  been  shame- 


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i62  CHAGFORD 

fully  robbed  by  a  farmer  to  build  his  newtake  walls. 
I  give  plan  of  the  rows  as  taken  by  me  in  185 1. 
There  was  another  line  of  stones  leading  from  the 
Three  Boys  to  the  Longstone.  The  Three  Boys 
were  three  big  stones  that  have  disappeared,  and  the 
line  from  them  has  also  been  obliterated.  This 
portion  I  unfortunately  did  not  plan  in   185 1. 

In  the  valley  of  the  Teign  is  the  so-called  tolmen, 
a  natural  formation.  In  the  same  slab  or  stone  may 
be  seen  the  beginnings  of  a  second  hole.  But  it  is 
curious  as  showing  that  the  river  at  one  time  rolled 
at  a  higher  elevation  than  at  present.  The  scenes 
on  a  ramble  up  the  river  from  Chagford  to  Holy 
Street  Mill  and  the  mill  itself  are  familiar  to  many, 
as  having  furnished  subjects  for  pictures  in  the  Royal 
Academy. 

The  river  Teign  below  Whiddon  Park  winds  in 
and  out  among  wooded  precipitous  hills  to  where 
the  Exeter  road  descends  in  zigzags  to  Fingle 
Bridge,  passing  on  its  way  Cranbrook  Castle,  a 
stone  camp.  The  brook  in  the  name  is  a  corruption 
of  burgh  or  burrh.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  valley, 
frowning  across  at  Cranbrook,  is  Prestonbury  Camp. 

With  advantage  the  river  may  be  followed  down 
for  several  miles  to  Dunsford  Bridge,  and  the  oppor- 
tunity is  then  obtained  of  gathering  white  heath  which 
grows  on  the  slopes.  At  Shilstone  in  Drewsteignton 
is  the  only  cromlech  in  the  county.  It  is  a  fine 
monument.  A  few  years  ago  it  fell,  but  has  been 
re-erected  in  its  old  position.  After  recent  ploughing 
flints  may  be  picked  up  in  the  field  where  it  stands. 

Gidleigh  merits  a  visit,  the  road  to  it  presenting 


GIDLEIGH  163 

many  delicious  peeps.  Gidleigh  possesses  the  ruin 
of  a  doll  castle  that  once  belonged  to  the  Prouze 
family.  The  church  contains  a  screen  in  good  pre- 
servation. In  the  parish  of  Throwleigh  is  the 
interesting  manor  house  Wanson,  of  which  I  have 
told  a  story  in  my  Old  English  Home. 

But  perhaps  more  interesting  than  manor  houses 
are  the  old  farm  buildings  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Chagford,  rapidly  disappearing  or  being  altered  out 
of  recognition  to  adapt  them  to  serve  as  lodging- 
houses  to  receive  visitors. 

One  such  adaptation  may  be  noticed  in  Tincombe 
Lane.  An  old  house  is  passed,  where  the  ancient 
mullioned  windows  have  been  heightened  and  the 
floors  and  ceilings  raised,  to  the  lasting  injury  of 
the  house  itself,  considered  from  a  picturesque  point 
of  view.  A  passable  road  leads  up  the  South  Teign 
to  Fernworthy,  a  substantial  farm  in  a  singularly 
lone  spot  But  there  was  another  farm  even  more 
lonely  at  Assacombe,  where  a  lateral  stream  descends 
to  the  Teign,  but  it  has  been  abandoned,  and  con- 
sists now  of  ruin  only.  Near  it  is  a  well-preserved 
double  stone  row  leading  from  a  cairn  and  finishing 
at  a  blocking-stone. 

At  Fernworthy  itself  is  a  circle  of  upright  stones 
and  the  remains  of  several  stone  rows  sorely  mutilated 
for  the  construction  of  a  newtake  wall.  In  a  tumulus 
near  these  monuments  was  found  an  urn  containing 
ashes,  with  a  flint  knife,  and  another,  very  small,  of 
bronze  or  copper,  and  a  large  polished  button  of 
horn.  On  Chagford  Common,  near  Watern  Hill,  is 
a  double  pair  of  rows  leading  from  a  cairn  and   a 


i64  CHAGFORD 

small  menhir,  to  blocking  -  stones.  Although  the 
stones  of  which  they  are  composed  are  small,  the 
rows  are  remarkably  well  preserved. 

It  will  repay  the  visitor  to  continue  his  ascent  of 
the  South  Teign  to  the  Grey  Wethers,  two  circles 
of  stone,  of  which,  however,  many  are  fallen.  Here 
exploration,  such  as  has  been  conducted  at  Fern- 
worthy  circle,  shows  that  the  floors  are  deep  in 
ashes,  and  this  leads  to  the  surmise  that  the  circles 
were  the  crematories  of  the  dead  who  lie  in  the 
cairns  and  tunnels  in  the  neighbourhood. 

Near  the  source  of  the  North  Teign  is  Teignhead 
House,  one  of  the  most  solitary  spots  in  England. 
A  shepherd  resides  there,  but  it  is  not  for  many 
winters  that  a  woman  can  endure  the  isolation  and 
retain  her  reason. 

And  yet  there  remain  the  ruins  of  a  house  in 
a  still  more  lonely  situation.  The  moorman  points 
it  out  as  Browne's  House. 

Although,  judging  from  the  dilapidation  and  the 
lichened  condition  of  the  stones,  one  could  have  sup- 
posed that  this  edifice  was  of  great  antiquity,  yet  it 
is  not  so  by  any  means.  There  are  those  still  alive 
who  remember  when  the  chimney  fell ;  and  who  had 
heard  of  both  the  building,  the  occupying,  and  the 
destruction  of  Browne's  House.  Few  indeed  have 
seen  the  ruin,  for  it  is  in  so  remote  a  spot  that  only 
the  shepherd,  the  rush-cutter,  and  the  occasional 
fisherman  approach  it. 

On  the  Ordnance  Survey,  faint  indications  of  in- 
closures  are  given  on  the  spot,  but  no  name  is 
attached.     Yet  every  moorman,  if  asked  what  these 


GRIMSPOUND  165 

ruins  are,  will  tell  you  that  it  is  the  wreck  of 
Browne's  House. 

The  story  told  me  relative  to  this  solitary  spot  was 
that  Browne,  an  ungainly,  morose  man,  had  a  pretty 
young  wife,  of  whom  he  was  jealous.  He  built  this 
place  in  which  to  live  with  her  away  from  the  society 
of  men,  and  the  danger  such  proximity  might  bring 
to  his  connubial  happiness. 

Grimspound  will  be  visited  from  Chagford.  The 
way  to  it  after  leaving  the  high-road  from  Post  Bridge 
to  Moreton,  which  it  crosses,  traverses  Shapleigh 
Common,  where  are  numerous  inclosures  in  con- 
nection with  hut  circles.  One  of  these  is  very  large, 
and  constructed  of  huge  slabs  of  granite.  Several  of 
these  larger  circles  were  occupied  only  in  summer, 
it  would  appear,  as  there  are  scanty  traces  of  fire  in 
them,  whereas  attached  to  them  are  small  huts,  the 
floors  of  which  are  thickly  strewn  with  charcoal  and 
fragments  of  pottery,  and  presumably  the  cooking 
was  done  in  these  latter. 

Grimspound  is  an  irregular  circular  inclosure  con- 
taining four  acres  within  the  boundary  wall.  It  is 
situated  on  the  slope  of  a  hill,  and  the  position  is 
obviously  ill-adapted  for  defence,  as  it  is  commanded 
by  higher  ground  on  three  sides.  A  little  stream, 
the  Grimslake,  flows  through  the  inclosure. 

The  wall  itself  is  double-faced,  and  the  two  faces 
have  fallen  inwards.  This  shows  that  the  core  could 
not  have  been  of  turf,  as  in  that  case  shrubs  would 
have  rooted  themselves  therein  and  have  thrust  the 
walls  outward.  In  several  places  openings  appear 
from  the  inside  of  the  pound  into  the  space  between 


i66  CHAGFORD 

the  walls.  It  is  possible  that  this  intermediate 
hollow  was  used  for  stores,  and  that  the  walls  were 
tied  together  with  timber,  and  surmounted  with 
a  parapet  of  turf  A  trackway  from  Manaton  to 
Headland  Warren  runs  through  the  pound,  and  the 
wall  has  been  broken  through  for  this  purpose  in  two 
places ;  but  the  original  entrance  to  the  S.S.E.  is 
perfect,  and  is  paved,  and  in  it  three  steps  have  been 
formed,  as  the  descent  was  into  the  pound,  another 
token  that  the  inclosure  was  not  intended  as  a 
fortress. 

The  entrance  is  8  feet  wide,  and  no  outwork  was 
constructed  to  protect  it  from  being  "  rushed  "  by  an 
enemy.  The  walls  of  the  inclosure  here  and 
throughout  are  from  lO  feet  to  12  feet  thick,  and 
stone  does  not  exist  in  any  part  which  could  raise 
them  above  5  feet  6  inches  in  height.  Each  wall 
is  3  feet  6  inches  wide  at  base,  and  was  3  feet  at  top. 
On  the  west  side  is  a  huge  slab  set  on  edge,  measur- 
ing 10  feet  by  5  feet,  and  it  is  from  9  inches  to  i  foot 
in  thickness,  and  weighs  from  3  to  4  tons.  Other 
stones,  laid  in  courses,  if  not  so  long,  are  not  of  less 
weight.  Such  a  wall  as  that  inclosing  Grimspound 
would  cost,  with  modern  appliances  and  with  horse 
power  for  drawing  the  stone,  three  guineas  per  land 
yard,  and  a  land  yard  would  engage  four  men  for  a 
week. 

When,  moreover,  we  consider  that  the  circumfer- 
ence of  the  wall  measures  over  1,500  feet,  it  becomes 
obvious  that  a  large  body  of  men  must  have  been 
engaged  in  the  erection. 

Presumably  Grimspound  was  not  a  fortified  village, 


G^IMSPOUND 


i6S  CHAGFORD 

and  was  merely  a  pound  into  which  cattle  were 
driven  for  protection  against  wolves.  It  is  just 
possible,  but  hardly  probable,  that  it  was  the  place 
of  refuge  for  the  scattered  population  on  Hookner 
and  Hamildon. 

Within  the  pound  are  twenty-four  hut  circles ; 
most  have  been  explored,  and  one  (No.  III.  on  the 
plan)  has  been  partially  restored,  and  is  inclosed 
within  a  railing.  The  object  of  this  restoration  was 
to  discover,  by  piling  up  the  stones  found  in  and 
about  the  wall  of  the  hut,  what  its  height  had  been 
originally,  and  this  was  determined  to  have  been 
four  feet. 

Unless  wantonly  injured  by  trippers,  it  will  serve 
to  exhibit  what  the  structure  of  these  habitations 
was,  with  its  paved  platform  as  bed,  and  its  hearth 
and  vestibule. 

A  double  hut  (XVIII.,  XIX.)  is  interesting  because 
a  tall  stone  was  erected  beside  it,  as  though  to  in- 
dicate it  as  being  the  residence  of  some  man  of 
importance,  maybe  the  sheik  of  the  community. 
In  hut  XVI.  is  a  double  bed,  one  couch  divided  from 
the  other  by  upright  stones. 

In  several  of  the  huts,  in  the  floor,  are  laid  flat 
stones  with  a  smooth  surface,  and  it  was  supposed 
that  these  served  as  chopping-stones,  but  further 
explorations  have  led  to  the  belief  that  they  were 
employed  to  sustain  a  central  pole  that  upheld 
the  roof 

On  the  col  above  Grimspound,  near  the  source  of 
Grimslake,  is  a  cairn  that  contains  a  small  kistvaen, 
and  is  surrounded  by  a  circle  of  stones  set  upright. 


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I70  CHAGFORD 

Numerous  cairns  crown  the  heights.  One  immense 
tumulus,  King's  Barrow,  has  at  some  unknown  time 
been  excavated  with  great  labour. 

The  great  central  trackway  crosses  Hamildon,  and 
is  very  perfect  where  it  does  so.  It  had  apparently 
no  connection  whatever  with  Grimspound. 

From  Grimspound  may  be  seen,  on  the  brow  of 
the  ridge  connecting  Birch  Tor  and  Challacombe 
Down,  a  series  of  stone  rows.  They  lead  to  a 
blocking-stone,  or  menhir,  at  the  south  extremity. 
The  northern  end  has  been  destroyed  by  tin- 
streamers,  whose  works  in  Chaw  Gully  are  interest- 
ing, for  mining  has  been  combined  with  streaming. 
The  rock  has  been  cut  through,  but  no  signs  of  the 
use  of  iron  wedges  for  splitting  the  granite  can  here 
be  discovered.  It  is  traditionally  told  that  what  was 
done  was  to  cut  a  groove  in  the  granite,  fill  that  with 
quicklime,  and  pour  water  on  it.  The  lime  in  swell- 
ing split  the  rock.  Ravens  nest  here  ;  and  I  have 
seen  rock  doves  and  the  pair  of  ravens  nesting 
almost  side  by  side. 

Below  is  the  Webburn,  the  stream  turned  up  by 
tinners.  There  one  mine  continues  in  activity — the 
"  Golden  Dagger."  Above  is  Vitifer,  where  fortunes 
have  been  made — and  lost ;  mostly  the  latter  by 
investors,  mainly  the  former  by  the  "captains"  and 
promoters. 


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CHAPTER  XII. 
MANATON 

Beauty  of  the  site — The  church — Destruction  of  the  cross — Lustleigh 
Cleave — North  Bovey — Lustleigh  church — Prouze  tombs — The  sacri- 
fice of  a  cat — Bishop  Stapeldon's  stone — Becka  fall — The  eastern 
side  of  the  moor — Hound  Tor — The  sycamore — Hey  Tor — Camp  or 
pound — Rippon  Tor — Foale's  Arrishes — Finger-marks  on  pottery — 
Salubrity  of  Dartmoor — Settlers — Widdecombe  in  October — The 
church  —  Thunderstorm  —  "Lady"  Darke  —  Old  farmhouses — The 
Song  of  "Widdecombe  Fair." 

THE  position  of  Manaton  is  one  of  remarkable 
beauty,  between  Lustleigh  Cleave  and  the  ridge 
on  which  stands  Bowerman's  Nose,  and  which  swells 
up  to  Hound  Tor. 

The  church  is  dedicated  to  S.  Winefred,  the  Welsh 
martyr  maid,  and  has  its  fine  screen  carefully  restored. 
It  formerly  possessed  a  singular  feature,  which  the 
*'  restoring "  architect  destroyed,  because  singular. 
This  was  a  small  window  in  the  east  wall  opening 
from  the  outside,  under  the  altar.  Perhaps  there 
were  relics  of  S.  Winefred  kept  beneath  the  altar, 
and  through  this  fenestrella  confessionis  the  devotees 
could  touch  them.  But,  indeed,  the  destroyer  has 
been  at  Manaton  and  effaced  more  than  this  window. 
On  the  tor  that  commands  the  village  were  formerly 
many  prehistoric  monuments.  The  farm  Langstone 
by  its  name  proclaims  that  on  it  was  a  menhir.     In 

171 


172  MANATON 

the  churchyard  was  a  fine  granite  cross.  A  former 
rector,  the  Rev.  C.  Carwithen,  wantonly  destroyed  it 
in  the  night.  The  people  had  been  wont  at  a  funeral 
to  carry  the  corpse  the  way  of  the  sun  thrice  round 
the  cross  before  interment.  He  preached  against  the 
custom  ineffectually,  so  he  secretly  smashed  the  cross. 
There  are  two  logan  rocks  within  easy  reach — the 
Whooping  Stone  on  Easdon,  and  the  Nutcracker  in 
Lustleigh  Cleave. 

This  cleave  is  very  picturesque.  "  Cleave  "  properly 
is  a  local  softening  of  the  word  "  cliff,"  and  applies  to 
the  rocks,  but  in  common  use  it  has  come  incorrectly 
to  be  applied  to  the  valley  below  the  crags.  Through 
the  stone-strewn  trough  of  the  vale  the  sparkling 
Bovey  finds  its  way  with  some  difficulty,  diving 
under  the  boulders  at  Horsham  Steps,  and  running 
unseen  for  some  considerable  distance,  only  proclaim- 
ing its  presence  by  its  murmurs  and  whispers. 

That  there  was  some  fighting  done  across  this 
valley  is  probable,  because  there  are  camps  on  both 
sides. 

In  honourable  contrast  with  Mr.  Carwithen  stands 
Mr.  Jones,  the  curate  of  North  Bovey,  who  fished  the 
old  village  cross  out  of  the  brook,  where  it  had  lain 
since  the  iconoclastic  period  of  the  Civil  Wars,  and 
re-erected  it  in  1829. 

North  Bovey  church,  pleasantly  situated,  possesses 
a  screen  much  mutilated,  but  capable  of  restoration. 
Far  superior  to  it  in  preservation  is  that  of  Lustleigh, 
which  is  of  the  same  character  as  that  of  Bridford, 
perhaps  post-Reformation,  and  contains  a  series  of 
figures  in  the  lower  compartments  representing  clergy 


LUSTLEIGH    CHURCH  173 

in  their  caps  and  surplices  and  "  liripipets,"  and  not 
saints.  There  is  some  old  glass  in  the  church,  in  one 
window  a  representation  of  S.  Margaret.  There  are 
monumental  effigies  in  the  church  of  the  Prouze 
family.  One  of  these  is  of  Sir  William  Prouze,  to 
whom  the  manor  of  Lustleigh  belonged.  By  his  will  he 
directed  that  he  should  be  buried  with  his  ancestors 
at  Lustleigh ;  but  he  died  at  a  distance,  and  was 
interred  at  Holbeton.  Some  time  after,  the  wishes 
of  her  father  having  come  to  the  knowledge  of  Lady 
Alice,  the  wife  of  Sir  Roger  Mules,  Baron  of  Cadbury, 
and  finding  that  they  had  been  disregarded,  the  dutiful 
daughter  petitioned  Grandisson,  Bishop  of  Exeter  in 
1329,  that  the  remains  might  be  removed  from  Hol- 
beton to  Lustleigh,  and  the  prayer  was  granted. 

Forming  the  sill  of  the  south  door  is  a  long 
granite  stone  with  a  Romano-British  inscription, 
the  reading  of  which  has  not  been  satisfactorily 
made  out. 

In  the  chancel  may  be  noticed  the  stone  brackets, 
perforated  for  the  cords  employed  for  the  suspension 
of  the  Lenten  veil. 

A  story  associated  with  Lustleigh  church  has  its 
parallels  elsewhere.  After  it  had  been  built  the 
devil  threatened  to  destroy  it,  stained  glass  and  all, 
unless  he  were  given  a  sacrifice.  Now  it  happened 
that  a  bumpkin  was  present  in  the  churchyard  with 
a  pack  of  cards  in  his  pocket,  and  the  Evil  One 
immediately  demanded  him  as  his  due;  but  the 
man,  with  great  presence  of  mind,  pounced  on  a 
cat  that  was  stalking  by  and  dashed  out  its  brains 
against  the  wall  of  the  porch.     This  satisfied  the 


174  MANATON 

powers  of  darkness,  and  the  consecration  of  the 
church  followed.  The  story  is  a  clumsy  late  cooking 
up  of  the  old  belief  that  before  a  building  could  be 
occupied  a  life  must  be  sacrificed  to  the  telluric 
deities.  A  horse,  a  dog,  a  sow — in  this  case  a  cat 
was  offered  up.  Echoes  of  the  same  are  found 
everywhere.*  Most  Devonshire  churchyards  were 
formerly  supposed  to  be  haunted  by  some  animal  or 
other,  which  had  been  buried  under  the  corner-stone. 
When  S.  Columba  took  possession  of  lona  the  ques- 
tion arose  as  to  who  was  to  die  and  be  buried  so  as 
to  secure  the  place  for  ever  to  the  community.  One 
of  his  monks,  Oran  by  name,  offered  himself,  and  he 
was  buried  alive  under  the  foundations  of  the  new 
abbey. 

The  rectory  house  possesses  its  ancient  hall  open 
to  the  roof  In  the  hedge  between  the  church  and 
station  is  the  "  Bishop's  Stone,"  a  large  block,  bearing 
the  arms  of  Bishop  Stapeldon  (1307-26),  who  was 
murdered  in  the  riots  occasioned  by  Edward  II. 
favouring  the  Despensers.  He  was  fallen  on  by  the 
London  mob  in  Cheapside,  stripped,  and  beheaded 
by  them. 

Strewn  about  Lustleigh  are  numerous  masses  of 
granite,  rounded,  and  like  loaves  of  bread.  This 
is  due  to  the  weathering  of  the  granite,  which  is 
soft,  but  some,  if  not  most,  appear  to  have  been 
carried  to  where  they  lie  by  water. 

The  stream  Becka  forms  a  fall  into  the  valley  of 
the  Bovey,  through  woods,  but  except  in  very  rainy 

*  See  my  article  on  "  Foundations"  in  Strange  Survivals  (Methuen 
and  Co.,  1892).     See  also  my  Book  of  the  West,  i.  p.  331. 


HOUND   TOR  175 

weather  it  is  insignificant,  and  hardly  merits  to  be 
considered  a  waterfall ;  it  is  properly  only  a  water- 
trickle. 

The  eastern  flank  of  the  moor  is  infinitely  richer 
in  vegetation  than  the  western.  The  whole  of  Dart- 
moor stands  up  as  a  wall  against  the  prevalent 
north-west  and  south-west  winds  that  distort  the 
trees  on  the  west  side.  Moreover,  owing  to  the 
shelter  thus  furnished,  and  to  the  disintegration  of 
the  granite  trending  in  this  direction  so  as  to  form 
deep  beds  of  gravel,  the  valleys  and  hillsides  are 
clothed  with  rich  vegetation.     Pines  flourish. 

Hound  Tor  is  a  noble  mass  of  rocks.  It  derives 
its  name  from  the  shape  assumed  by  the  blocks  on 
the  summit,  that  have  been  weathered  into  forms  re- 
sembling the  heads  of  dogs  peering  over  the  natural 
battlements,  and  listening  to  hear  the  merry  call 
of  the  horn.  Below  it,  on  the  Manaton  side,  nestles 
Hound  Tor  Farm,  picturesquely  enfolded  in  a  syca- 
more grove. 

The  sycamore,  by  the  way,  is  peculiarly  the  tree 
for  Dartmoor  and  other  exposed  situations.  The 
beech  cowers  and  turns  from  the  blast,  and  it 
divides  so  soon  as  its  taproot  touches  rock ;  but  the 
sycamore  stands  up,  indifferent  to  wind  and  rain, 
to  which  it  opposes  the  broad  green  leaves  that  it 
turns  against  the  blast,  and  so  shelters  itself  as  with 
scale  armour. 

On  Hound  Tor  is  a  circle  of  stones  containing 
a  kistvaen. 

The  road  that  leads  to  Widdecombe  and  Ash- 
burton  ascends  to  Hound  Tor ;  but  there  is  another 


176  MANATON 

road  to  Ashburton  by  Hey  Tor  that  branches  off  to 
the  left  before  Hound  Tor  Farm  is  reached,  and 
scrambles  up  to  Trendlebere  Down,  passing  an 
almost  destroyed  stone  row  starting  from  a  cairn 
beside  the  highway.  The  road  runs  at  a  great 
elevation  (i,o8o  feet)  for  some  miles.  There  is  a 
pleasant  and  homely  inn  at  Hey  Tor  Vale,  where 
the  traveller  may  rest  and  gather  strength  to  visit 
Holwell  Tor  and  Hey  Tor  Rocks.  Holwell  Tor  was 
at  one  time  surrounded  by  a  stone  rampart,  but 
quarrymen  have  sadly  injured  it,  and  it  is  not  now 
easy  to  decide  whether  the  inclosure  was  merely 
a  pound,  like  Grimspound,  or  a  stone  camp,  like 
Whit  Tor. 

Hey  Tor  Rocks  form  two  fine  masses,  and  are  unlike 
most  of  the  moorland  tors,  in  that  the  granite  is 
very  consistent,  and  is  not  broken  into  the  usual 
layers  of  soft  beds  alternating  with  hard  layers.  The 
view  of  the  valley  below  Hey  Tor  and  Grea  Tor 
on  one  side,  and  the  ridge  of  Bone  Hill  on  the 
other,  is  fine. 

The  road,  commanding  to  the  east  a  vast  stretch 
of  the  rich  lowlands  of  Devon,  passes  Saddle  Tor 
and  reaches  Rippon  Tor,  where  is  a  good  logan 
stone.  Here  are  several  cairns  much  mutilated  by 
the  road-makers.  On  the  further  side  of  the  road, 
by  Pill  Tor,  are  remains  of  an  extensive  prehistoric 
settlement.  Many  huts  and  inclosures  remain.  The 
place  bears  the  name  of  Foale's  Arrishes,  from  a 
man  of  that  appellation  who  spent  his  energies  in 
converting  the  prehistoric  inclosures  into  fields  for 
his  own  use,  to  the  destruction  of  much  that  was 


FINGER-MARKS  ON  POTTERY    177 

interesting,  and  to  his  own  very  dubitable  advantage. 
The  huts  have,  however,  yielded  fine  specimens 
of  ornamented  pottery.  The  decoration  is  here  and 
there  made  with  a  woman's  finger-nail.  Consider 
that !  Some  poor  barbaric  squaw  five  thousand  years 
ago  fashioned  the  damp  clay  with  her  hands  and 
devised  a  rude  pattern,  which  she  incised  with  her 


FRAGMENT  OF   POTTERY. 


nails.  She  is  long  ago  gone  to  dust,  and  her  dust 
dispersed,  but  the  impress  of  her  nails  remains. 

This  is  much  like  what  we  are  all  doing,  and  doing 
unconsciously — leaving  little  finger-touches  on  our 
creations,  giving  shape  to  the  minds  and  habits  of 
our  children  and  of  those  with  whom  we  are  brought 
into  contact,  shaping,  adorning,  or  disfiguring  our 
epoch,  and  the  impressions  we  leave  are  indelible ; 
they  will  in  turn  be  transmitted  to  ages  to  come. 

Some  of  the  ornamentation,  as  in  a  specimen  from 


178  MANATON 

Smallacombe  Rocks,  is  made  with  a  twisted  cord. 
The  pottery  is  all  hand-made,  shaped  without  the 
wheel,  and  very  imperfectly  burnt.  It  is  not  red, 
because  there  was  little  iron  in  the  clay. 

One  large  hut  at  Foale's  Arrishes  had  a  seat  carried 
round  part  at  least  of  the  interior,  made  of  branches 
that  were  held  from  spreading  by  sharp  stones  planted 
upright  in  the  floor.  The  kitchen  was  on  the  left  side 
of  the  entrance  in  a  subsidiary  structure. 

It  has,  of  late,  become  a  thing  not  unusual  for 
young  fellows,  if  suffering  from  delicacy  of  the  lungs, 
to  rent  or  buy  a  farm  on  Dartmoor.  No  research 
after  parasitic  microbes  thenceforth  concerns  them. 
The  fresh  air,  the  constant  exercise,  the  joyous 
existence  on  the  wild  moor  are  fatal  to  tubercular 
bacteria.  Rude  health,  buoyant  spirits,  unflagging 
energy  result  from  such  treatment. 

It  is,  it  must  be  admitted,  surpassing  hard  to 
induce  servants  from  the  "in-country"  to  take 
situations  on  Dartmoor.  The  air  there  is  as  un- 
suited  to  them  as  to  other  microbes.  But  the  settler 
lights  his  own  fires,  cooks  his  own  meals,  makes  his 
own  bed ;  and,  as  one  of  them  assured  me,  his 
experience  proved  to  him  that  a  man  can  keep  a 
hunter  at  the  same  cost  as  he  can  a  servant-maid  : 
therefore,  why  be  worried  with  the  latter? 

At  Post  Bridge  they  have  had  a  succession  of 
curates  who  have  lived  this  life  in  cabins  or  hovels, 
and  have  learned  to  love  it.  It  has  one  drawback, 
and  one  only — it  makes  the  hands  rough  and  grimy. 
But  what  are  gloves  for,  but  to  cover  dirty  hands 
when  we  go  to  town  to  make  display? 


SALUBRITY  OF   DARTMOOR    179 

As  to  food.  Rabbits  are  to  be  had  at  any  moment ; 
geese,  ducks  live  and  luxuriate  on  the  moor ;  an 
occasional  blackcock  or  moorhen  and  a  brace  of 
snipe  give  zest ;  and  trout  are  to  be  obtained  for 
the  labour  or  pleasure  of  angling  for  them.  The 
price  of  horses  is  mounting ;  any  number  may  be 
grown  on  the  moor.     Sheep,  cattle — you  turn  them 


^c'V 


ORNAMENTED   POTTERY. 


out,  and  they  thrive  on  the  sweet  grass,  and  know 
not  the  maladies  that  afflict  flocks  and  herds  in  the 
world  twelve  hundred  feet  below. 

Let  it  hot  be  supposed  that  in  winter  Dartmoor 
is  a  desolation  and  a  horror.  It  is  by  no  means  an 
unpleasant  place  for  a  sojourn  then.  When  below 
are  mud  and  mist,  aloft  on  the  moor  the  ground  is 
hard  with  frost  and  the  air  crisp  and  clear.  Down 
below  we   are   oppressed  with  the  fall  of  the  leaf, 


i8o  MANATON 

affecting  us,  if  inclined  to  asthma  and  bronchitis ; 
and  in  the  short,  dull  days  of  December  and  January 
our  spirits  wax  dark  amidst  naked  trees  and  when 
our  ankles  are  deep  in  mud.  There  are  no  trees  on 
Dartmoor  to  expose  their  naked  limbs,  and  tell  us 
that,  vegetation  is  dead.  The  shoulders  of  down  are 
draped  in  brown  sealskin  mantles — the  ling  and 
heather,  as  lovely  in  its  sleep  as  in  its  waking  state ; 
the  mosses,  touched  by  frost,  turn  to  rainbow  hues. 
For  colour  effects  give  me  Dartmoor  in  winter. 

And  then  the  peat  fires !  What  fires  can  surpass 
them  ?  They  do  not  flame,  but  they  glow,  and 
diffuse  an  aroma  that  fills  the  lungs  with  balm. 
The  turf-cutting  is  one  of  the  annual  labours  on 
the  moor.  Every  farm  has  its  peat-bog,  and  in  the 
proper  season  a  sufficiency  of  fuel  is  cut,  then  carried 
and  stacked  for  winter  use.  I  may  be  mistaken,  but 
it  seems  to  me  that  cooking  done  over  a  peat  fire 
surpasses  cooking  at  the  best  club  in  London.  But 
it  may  be  that  on  the  moor  one  relishes  a  meal  in  a 
manner  impossible  elsewhere. 

Widdecombe-in-the-Moor  is  a  village  in  a  valley 
walled  off  from  the  world  by  high  ridges  on  the  east 
and  on  the  west.  The  entire  bed  of  the  valley  has 
been  washed  and  rewashed  by  streamers  for  tin. 
Bag  Park  is  a  gentleman's  seat  laid  out  on  this  col- 
lection of  refuse,  and  the  pines  and  firs  luxuriate  in 
the  granite  rubble  and  grow,  as  if  it  were  to  them 
a  pleasure  to  thrust  up  their  leaders  and  expand  their 
boughs. 

I  shall  never  forget  a  drive  through  Widdecombe 
one  October  day,  when  the  sun  was  shining  bright, 


WIDDECOMBE    CHURCH        i8i 

and  the  air  was  soft.  The  sycamores  had  shed  their 
leaves ;  but  the  expedition  was  one  through  coral 
land.  The  rowan  or  mountain-ash,  which  was  every- 
where, was  burdened  with  clusters  of  scarlet  berries, 
and  the  hedges  were  wreathed  with  rose-hips  and 
dense  with  ruddy  haws. 

The  church  of  Widdecombe  has  a  very  fine  tower, 
built,  it  is  said,  by  the  tinners.  The  roof  has  many 
of  the  original  bosses,  carved  and  painted  with 
heads,  flowers,  and  leaves.  One  has  the  figure  on  it 
of  S.  Catherine  with  her  wheel.  One  boss  has  on 
it  three  rabbits,  each  with  a  single  ear,  which  unite  in 
the  centre,  forming  a  triangle.  One  exactly  similar 
is  in  Tavistock  church. 

Part  of  the  lower  portion  of  the  roodscreen  re- 
mains with  figures  of  saints  on  it. 

The  story  of  the  great  thunderstorm  in  which 
Widdecombe  church  was  struck,  on  Sunday,  Octo- 
ber 2 1st,  1638,  when  the  congregation  were  present 
at  divine  service,  has  often  been  told,  notably  by 
Mr.  Blackmore  in  his  novel  Christowel. 

Prince,  in  his  Worthies  of  Devon^  thus  narrates 
the  circumstances : — 

"  In  the  afternoon,  in  service  time,  there  happened  a 
very  great  darkness,  which  still  increased  to  that  degree, 
that  they  could  not  see  to  read ;  soon  after,  a  terrible  and 
fearful  thunder  was  heard,  like  the  noise  of  so  many  great 
guns,  accompanied  with  dreadful  lightning,  to  the  great 
amazement  of  the  people;  the  darkness  still  increasing, 
that  they  could  not  see  each  other,  when  there  presently 
came  such  an  extraordinary  flame  of  lightning,  as  filled  the 
church  with  fire,  smoak,  and  a  loathsome  smell,  like  brim- 


i82  MANATON 

stone;  a  ball  of  fire  came  in  likewise  at  the  window,  and 
passed  through  the  church,  which  so  affrighted  the  congre- 
gation, that  most  of  them  fell  down  in  their  seats;  some 
upon  their  knees,  others  on  their  faces,  and  some  one  upon 
another,  crying  out  of  burning  and  scalding,  and  all  giving 
themselves  up  for  dead.  There  were  in  all  four  persons 
killed,  and  sixty-two  hurt,  divers  of  them  having  their  linen 
burnt,  tho'  their  outward  garments  were  not  so  much  as 
singed.  .  .  .  The  church  itself  was  much  torn  and  defaced 
with  the  thunder  and  lightning,  a  beam  whereof,  breaking 
in  the  midst,  fell  down  between  the  minister  and  clerk,  and 
hurt  neither.  The  steeple  was  much  wrent;  and  it  was 
observed  where  the  church  was  most  torn,  there  the  least 
hurt  was  done  among  the  people.  There  was  none  hurted 
with  the  timber  or  stone ;  but  one  man,  who,  it  was  judged, 
was  killed  by  the  fall  of  a  stone." 

The  monument  of  this  man,  Roger  Hill,  is  in 
the  church,  as  also  an  account  in  verse  of  the  storm, 
composed  by  the  village  schoolmaster. 

For  many  years  the  incumbent  of  Widdecombe 
was  a  man  who  was  reputed  to  be  the  son  of 
George  IV.  when  Prince  Regent.  His  sister,  married 
to  a  captain,  who  deserted  her,  occupied  a  cottage, 
now  in  ruins,  under  Crockern  Tor.  She  also  was 
believed  to  be  of  blood-royal  with  a  bar  sinister. 
Both  the  parson  and  his  sister  had  been  brought 
up  about  Court.  He,  when  given  the  living  of 
Widdecombe — to  get  him  out  of  sight  and  mind — 
brought  with  him  a  large  consignment  of  excellent 
port,  and  that  drew  to  his  parsonage  such  rare  men 
as  would  brave  the  moors  and  storms  for  the  sake 
of  a  carouse. 


''LADY"    DARKE  183 

His  sister,  in  the  desolate  cottage  under  Crockern 
Tor,  languished  and  died,  leaving  her  only  child, 
Caroline,  to  the  charge  of  her  uncle.  She  was  sent 
for  her  education  to  a  famous  school  in  Queen's 
Square,  London,  where  she  associated  with  girls 
belonging  to  families  of  the  first  rank. 

A  certain  air  of  distinction,  as  well  as  the  story 
that  circulated  relative  to  her  mother's  origin,  made 
her  an  object  of  interest,  and  her  imperious  manner 
commanded  respect. 

The  vicarage  was  by  no  means  a  good  place  in 
which  a  young  girl  should  grow  to  maturity.  The 
house  was  not  frequented  by  men  of  the  best 
character,  and  the  wildest  stories  are  told  of  the 
goings-on  there  in  the  forties  and  fifties. 

Caroline  was,  however,  a  girl  of  exceptionally 
strong  character;  she  was  early  called  on  to  hold 
her  own  with  the  associates  of  her  uncle  and  fre- 
quenters of  the  vicarage,  and  she  was  quite  able  to 
enforce  upon  them  a  proper  behaviour  towards 
herself. 

Unhappily,  she  had  been  reared  without  any 
religious  principles ;  her  law  was  consequently  her 
own  caprice,  fortunately  held  in  check  by  a  strong 
sense  of  personal  dignity. 

The  position  she  was  in  was  as  forlorn  and  un- 
promising as  any  in  which  a  young  girl  could  find 
herself. 

She  was  full  of  generous  impulses,  but  they  were 
wholly  untrained ;  she  possessed  furious  passions, 
which  were  held  in  check  solely  by  her  pride.  She 
would  do  at  one  time  a  generous  act  and  next  a  dirty 


i84  MANATON 

trick,  "just,"  as  the  people  said,  *'as  though  she  were 
a  pixy." 

A  gentleman  named  Darke,  visiting  her  uncle  on 
some  business,  married  Caroline,  and  soon  after  her 
uncle  died  suddenly,  having  made  a  will  in  her 
favour. 

The  vicarage  was  well  furnished  and  contained 
articles  of  great  value,  in  pictures,  plate,  etc.,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  presented  to  him,  but  most  likely 
obtained  with  money  lent  at  Court  to  those  tempor- 
arily embarrassed. 

The  manor  had  been  sold,  and  was  purchased  by 
Mrs.  Darke's  trustees  at  her  request,  and  from  that 
time  she  insisted  on  being  entitled  "  Lady "  Darke  ; 
and  into  this  she  moved  with  her  dogs,  horses,  and 
husband. 

This  latter  had  soon  discovered  what  an  imperious 
character  she  possessed.  His  will  might  clash  with 
hers,  but  hers  would  never  give  way.  Her  character 
was  the  toughest  and  most  energetic,  and  by  degrees 
he  fell  into  a  condition  of  submission  and  insignifi- 
cance which  it  was  painful  to  witness,  and  which 
"  Lady  "  Darke  herself  resented,  without  being  aware 
that  it  was  due  to  her  own  overbearing  behaviour. 

She  kept  nine  or  ten  horses  in  her  stables — some 
had  never  been  broken  in ;  some  she  rode  on,  others 
were  driven  in  pairs.  But  towards  the  end  of  her 
life  the  horses  were  not  taken  out,  and  ate  their 
heads  off  many  times  over. 

If  a  visitor  of  distinction  was  expected,  she  sent 
for  him  her  carriage  and  pair  with  silver-mounted 
harness.     For  ordinary  use  she  employed  her  brass- 


"LADY"    DARKE  185 

mounted  harness ;  but  Bill,  her  husband,  was  de- 
spatched to  market  in  the  little  trap  in  which  she 
fetched  coals.  Latterly  Mr.  Darke  was  sent  to  make 
purchases  at  Ashburton,  with  a  long  list  of  "  chores," 
i.e.  of  articles  he  was  to  bring  back  with  him,  written 
out  during  the  week  on  a  slip  of  paper  from  a 
pocket-book.  Here  is  one:  "  Kidney -beans  and 
cucumbers  ;  tea,  and  green  paint  with  driers  ;  brushes 
and  putty;  sweets;  and  a  frock-body  for  myself;  a 
milkpan,  fourteen  inches  ;  side-combs,  3^.  6d. ;  ostler's 
boy  and  fish ;  lavender ;  pain-killer ;  wine,  salad  oil, 
harness  paste,  and  rice ;  also  ribs  of  beef,  grate  for 
blue  bedroom,  india-rubber ;  rabbits,  grind  scissors, 
cheese,  inn  and  ostler." 

She  ruled  her  husband,  and  indeed  everyone  with 
whom  she  came  in  contact.  He,  cut  off  from  social 
intercourse  with  his  fellows,  out  of  the  current  of 
intellectual  life,  with  no  other  work  to  do  than  to 
fulfil  her  behests,  sank  in  his  own  estimation,  and  fell 
into  degradation  without  making  an  effort  to  rise  out 
of  it. 

An  instance  of  her  despotic  character  may  be 
given.  One  day  she  wanted  to  have  her  hay  made ; 
she  was  anxious  lest  a  change  of  weather  should 
come  on.  She  issued  an  imperious  order  to  the  curate 
of  the  parish  to  come  and  help  save  the  hay.  He 
sent  an  apology.  This  rendered  her  furious.  She 
went  in  quest  of  him,  met  him  in  the  village,  and 
falling  on  him  soundly  boxed  his  ears  in  public. 

She  was  an  implacable  hater;  and  living  on  the 
wilds,  half  educated,  she  was  superstitious,  and  be- 
lieved in   witchcraft,  and  in  her  own  power  to  ill- 


i86  MANATON 

wish  such  individuals  as  offended  her.  She  was 
caught  on  one  occasion  with  a  doll  into  which  she 
was  sticking  pins  and  needles,  in  the  hope  and  with 
the  intent  thereby  of  producing  aches  and  cramps  in 
a  neighbour.  On  another  occasion  she  laid  a  train  of 
gunpowder  on  her  hearth,  about  a  figure  of  dough, 
and  ignited  it,  for  the  purpose  of  conveying  an 
attack  of  fever  to  the  person  against  whom  she  was 
animated  with  resentment. 

It  need  hardly  be  said  that  believing  in  her  own 
powers  others  believed  in  them  as  well,  and  dreaded 
offending  her. 

She  was  kind-hearted,  and  impulsive  in  her 
generosity.  She  divided  the  parish  into  two  halves 
— one  she  gave  over  to  the  doctor  and  kept  the  other 
to  herself.  "  He  kills  with  his  physic,"  she  said,  "  I 
keep  alive  and  recover  with  my  soups  and  port  wine." 

She  was  vastly  angry  with  the  vicar,  her  uncle's 
successor,  about  some  trifle,  and  she  went  after  him 
with  her  whip  and  threatened  to  chastise  him  with 
it.  He  actually  summoned  her,  and  swore  that  he 
lived  in  bodily  fear  of  the  lady. 

She  liked  to  have  visitors  drop  in  on  her,  but  not 
to  be  warned  of  their  coming ;  for  she  took  a  pride 
in  showing  what  she  could  provide  for  table  on  the 
spur  of  the  moment ;  and  forth  would  come  a  ham, 
half  a  goose,  a  boiled  leg  of  mutton,  a  big  cheese 
and  celery,  produced  as  by  magic,  and  would  be 
served  by  herself  in  an  old  gown,  red  turnover  hand- 
kerchief on  her  shoulders,  and  a  coalscuttle  bonnet 
on  her  head. 

Mrs.  Darke  at  one  time  played  on  the  piano  after 


''LADY"   DARKE  187 

the  meal  to  get  her  guests  to  dance,  but  the  cats  tore 
the  instrument  open  and  made  their  nests  and  kittened 
among  the  strings,  and  the  damp  air  rusted  the  wires. 
Then  she  bought  a  barrel-organ,  and  forced  her 
husband  to  turn  the  handle  in  the  corner  and  grind 
out  the  music  for  the  dancers.  However,  on  one 
occasion,  having  tasted  too  often  a  bottle  within 
reach,  though  out  of  sight,  he  fell  forward  in  the 
middle  of  a  dance  and  brought  the  instrument  down 
with  him.  The  instrument  was  so  broken  that  it 
could  no  longer  be  used.  Mr.  Darke  died  at  last  in 
one  of  the  fits  to  which  he  was  liable,  having  retired 
to  rest  by  mistake  under  in  place  of  on  the  bed. 

By  this  time  the  lady  had  become  very  deaf. 

On  hearing  the  news  of  the  decease  some  friends 
went  to  see  her. 

"Very  grieved,  madam,  at  your  sad  loss  ! " 

"Ah!  Bill  is  dead.  He  might  have  done  worse; 
he  might  have  lived.  You  will  stop  and  dine,  of 
course." 

They  had  to  tarry  to  see  to  matters  of  business. 
"  Now,  look  here,"  said  "  Lady"  Darke,  "  I'll  have  no 
more  '  truck '  with  Bill.  He  has  been  trouble  to  me 
long  enough.  I  shall  send  him  to  his  friends  in 
Plymouth.     Let  them  bury  him." 

"  Madam,"  said  the  nurse,  "  we  want  to  lay  him 
out.     Will  you  give  me  a  sheet  ?  " 

"A  sheet!  One  of  my  good  linen  sheets!  Not  I. 
Take  a  pig-cloth  "  ;  that  is  to  say,  one  in  which  bacon 
was  salted.  And  actually  her  husband  was  laid  in 
his  coffin  in  one  of  these  "  pig-cloths." 

In  Mrs.  Cudlip's  novel,  She  Cometh  Not,  He  Saith, 


i88  MANATON 

is  a  description  of  a  meeting  with  the  lady  that  is 
very  true  to  Hfe,  as  is  also  the  account  of  the  down- 
stairs arrangement  of  the  manor  house. 

In  later  years  "  Lady  "  Darke  became  infirm.  She 
neglected  everything,  and  no  one  dared  do  anything 
in  the  house  without  her  orders.  Until  she  came 
downstairs  in  the  morning  there  could  be  no  break- 
fast, as  she  kept  the  keys.  The  house  was  infested 
with  cats  and  dogs,  and  her  servants  did  not  dare 
to  get  rid  of  any  of  them,  or  to  drive  them  out  of  the 
rooms.  The  large  room  over  the  kitchen  she  alone 
entered.  The  door  was  padlocked,  and  the  key  of 
the  padlock  she  kept  attached  to  her  garter.  Thence 
the  key  had  to  be  taken  after  her  death  to  obtain 
admission.  It  was  found  to  contain  a  confused  mass 
of  sundry  articles  to  the  depth  of  three  feet  above  the 
floor,  the  accumulation  of  many  years.  Bureaus  were 
there  with  guineas  and  banknotes  in  the  drawers, 
and  quantities  of  old  silver  plate,  bearing  the  arms 
and  crests  of  men  of  title  who  had  been  about  the 
Court  of  the  Prince  Regent ;  and  the  whole  was 
veiled  in  cobwebs  that  hung  from  the  ceiling  so  long 
and  so  dense  as  to  hide  the  further  extremity  of  the 
chamber. 

"Lady"  Darke  retained  her  imperious  disposition 
to  the  end ;  it  was  in  vain  that  it  was  suggested  to 
her  that  she  should  have  an  attendant  to  be  always 
with  her.  She  often  sat  up  the  whole  night  by  her 
fire,  and  her  servants  dared  not  retire  to  bed  till  their 
mistress  had  given  the  signal  that  they  were  to 
depart. 

Of  relations   she   had   none ;    at   least  none  who 


-LADY"    DARKE  189 

came  near  her,  and  when  she  was  dead  much 
difficulty  was  found  in  discovering  any  persons  who 
had  claim  to  her  inheritance. 

She  died  quite  suddenly,  and  left  no  will. 

Her  trustees  had  to  advertise  before  they  could 
find  relations,  and  then  those  who  presented  them- 
selves were  the  children  of  her  father  by  a  third 
wife.  Her  dogs  and  cats  were  first  killed,  then 
several  old  horses  that  were  dragging  themselves 
about  the  field  in  extreme  old  age. 

Her  plate  and  pictures  were  sold. 

To  the  best  of  my  knowledge  no  portrait  of  her 
remains. 

She  was  a  fine  woman,  and  must  at  one  time  have 
been  handsome.  It  was  fancied  by  many  that  her 
features  bore  a  resemblance  to  the  pictures  of 
George  IV.  in  his  young  days.  The  mystery 
relative  to  her  mother  and  uncle  was  never  solved, 
and  it  is  possible  enough  that  the  supposed  paternity 
was  due  to  idle  gossip. 

There  were  vast  collections  of  letters  among  the 
remains,  but  these  were  all  destroyed,  and  nothing 
was  allowed  to  transpire  as  to  their  contents. 

The  story  from  beginning  to  end  is  one  of  infinite 
sadness.  It  is  of  one  with  a  remarkably  strong  but 
undisciplined  character,  one  full  of  good  impulses, 
who  had  never  been  taught  religious  duty,  and  given 
no  religious  belief,  who  was  therefore  condemned  to 
waste  a  profitless  life  in  a  remote  village,  without 
purpose,  without  self-discipline,  without  hope,  without 
God. 

There  are  some  interesting  old  farmhouses  about 


iQO  MANATOxN 

Widdecombe ;  one  is  at  Chittleford,  another  on 
Corndon.  The  primitive  type  of  farm  on  the  moor 
was  an  inclosed  courtyard,  entered  through  a  gate. 
Opposite  the  gate  is  the  dweUing-house,  with  a 
projecting  porch,  with  an  arched  granite  door  and  a 
mullioned  window  over  it.  On  one  side  of  the 
entrance  is  the  dwelling-room,  on  the  other  the 
saddle  and  sundry  chamber.  The  well,  which  is  a 
stream  of  water  from  the  moor  conducted  by  a  small 
leat  to  the  house,  is  under  cover  ;  and  the  cattle-sheds 
open  into  the  yard,  so  as  to  be  reached  with  ease 
from  the  house  without  exposure  to  the  storms. 

These  farm  dwellings  are  rapidly  disappearing, 
and  are  making  way  for  more  pretentious  and  ex- 
tremely hideous  buildings.  Such  as  remain  are 
remarkably  picturesque,  and  should  be  photographed 
before  they  are  destroyed. 

Widdecombe  must  not  be  quitted  without  a  refer- 
ence to  the  famous  ballad  of  the  old  grey  mare  taken 
there  to  the  fair ;  a  ballad  that  is  immensely  popular 
in  Devon,  and  one  to  the  air  of  which  the  Devon 
Regiment  went  against  the  Boers. 

"  Tom  Pearce,  Tom  Pearce,  lend  me  thy  grey  mare, 
All  along,  down  along,  out  along,  lee. 
For  I  want  for  to  go  to  Widdecombe  Fair, 
Wi'  Bill  Brewer,  Jan  Stewer,  Peter  Gurney,  Peter  Davy, 
Dan'l  Whiddon,  Harry  Hawk, 
Old  Uncle  Tom  Cobleigh  and  all. 

Chorus — Old  Uncle  Tom  Cobleigh  and  all. 

"  And  when  shall  I  see  again  my  grey  mare  ? 
All  along,  down  along,  out  along,  lee. 
By  Friday  soon,  or  Saturday  noon, 
Wi'  Bill  Brewer,  etc. 


LOWER    TARK 


3   ■>        >  i    i 


WIDDECOMBE    FAIR 


191 


"  Then  Friday  came,  and  Saturday  noon, 
All  along,  down  along,  out  along,  lee. 
But  Tom  Pearce's  old  mare  hath  not  trotted  home, 
Wi'  Bill  Brewer,  etc. 

"  So  Tom  Pearce  he  got  up  to  the  top  of  the  hill 
All  along,  down  along,  out  along,  lee. 
And  he  seed  his  old  mare  down  a-making  her  will, 
Wi'  Bill  Brewer,  etc." 


^f?^ 


Now  it  does  not  appear  from  the  song  why  the 
mare  was  so  dead  beat.  But  a  clever  American 
artist,  who  has  illustrated  the  song,  has  brought  her 
knowledge  of  human  nature  to  bear  on  the  story. 
She  has  shown  in  her  pictures  how  that  the  borrower 


192  MANATON 

of  the  horse  met  with  a  pretty  gipsy  girl  at  the  fair, 
and  persuaded  her  to  ride  away  with  him  en  croupe. 
This  explains  at  once  why  the  horse  was  so  over- 
come that  it  "  fell  sick  and  died." 

One  can  understand  also  how  that  this  ballad 
being  a  man's  song,  a  veil  is  delicately  thrown  over 
this  incident. 

I  do  not  quote  the  entire  ballad. 

"  When  the  wind  whistles  cold  on  the  moor  of  a  night, 
All  along,  down  along,  out  along,  lee. 
Tom  Pearce's  old  mare  doth  appear  ghastly  white, 
Wi'  Bill  Brewer,  etc. 

"  And  all  the  long  night  be  heard  skirling  and  groans, 
All  along,  down  along,  out  along,  lee. 
From  Tom  Pearce's  old  mare  in  her  rattling  bones, 
Wi'  Bill  Brewer,  etc." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
HOLNE 

Holne  church  and  screen— Epitaph — Holne  Chase — The  Coffin-stone 
— Dartmeet  Bridge— Dolly's  Cot— Dolly  Trebble— Sherrill— Yar 
Tor — Proposed  new  road — Pixy  Holt — Blowing-house  at  Okebrook 
— ^JoUy  Lane  Cot — Song-hunting  under  difficulties — The  Sandy 
Way — Childe's  Tomb — Crosses  in  a  line — Swincombe — Gobbetts 
Mine— Crazing-mill  stones — Holne  vicarage — Charles  Kingsley — 
Old  customs  at  Holne — Similar  custom  at  King's  Teignton — 
Sacrifice  of  sheep. 

AT  Holne  the  old  church  house,  now  an  inn, 
J~x.  affords  very  comfortable  quarters,  and  from  it 
many  interesting  excursions  may  be  made. 

Holne  church  has  preserved  its  old  screen  and 
pulpit,  the  former  rich  with  paintings  of  saints.  Both 
were  probably  erected  by  Oldam,  Bishop  of  Exeter, 
1504-19.  In  the  churchyard  is  the  following  doggerel 
inscription : — 

"  Here  lies  poor  old  Ned,  on  his  last  mattrass  bed. 
During  life  he  was  honest  and  free  ; 
He  knew  well  the  chase,  but  has  now  run  his  race, 
And  his  name  it  was  Colling,  d'ye  see. 

He  died  December  28th,  1780,  aged  77." 

From  the  vicarage  garden  a  noble  view  of  the 
windings  of  the  Dart  through  Holne  Chase  is  to 
be  obtained — permission  asked  and  given. 

To  see  Holne  Chase,  it  should  be  ascended  as  far 
o  193 


194  HOLNE 

as  New  Bridge,  and  thence  descended  through  the 
Buckland  Drives.    Permission  is  given  on  fixed  days. 

In  Holne  Wood,  where  the  river  makes  a  loop,  is 
an  early  camp,  with  indications  of  hut  circles  in  it, 
but  thrown  out  of  shape  by  the  trees  growing  in  the 
area.  Near  the  entrance  charcoal-burners  have 
formed  their  hole  in  which  to  burn  the  timber.  A 
finer  and  better  preserved  camp  is  Hembury. 

In  the  Chase,  on  the  Buckland  side  under  Awsewell 
Rock,  are  the  remains  of  furnaces  and  great  heaps  of 
slag.  The  point  is  where  th^re  is  a  junction  of  the 
granite  and  the  sedimentary  rocks.  Above  the  wooded 
flank  of  the  hill,  the  rocks  are  pierced  and  honey- 
combed by  miners  following  veins  of  ore,  probably 
copper.  The  workings  are  very  primitive,  and 
deserve  inspection.  The  little  village  of  Buckland 
should  not  be  neglected.  It  is  marvellously  pic- 
turesque, but  the  houses  do  not  appear  to  be  healthy, 
being  buried  in  foliage.  The  church  has  not  been 
restored.  It  possesses  an  old  screen  with  curious 
paintings,  some  impossible  to  interpret;  and  it  is  in 
the  old  bepewed,  neglected  condition  familiar  now 
only  to  those  whose  years  number  something  about 
sixty  or  seventy.  Buckland-in-the-Moor  is  the  full 
name  of  this  parish,  but  it  is  no  longer  in  the  moor. 
Colonel  Bastard,  ancestor  of  the  present  owner, 
planted  all  the  heathery  land  and  hillsides  with 
trees,  and  received  therefor  the  thanks  of  Parliament 
as  one  who  by  so  doing  had  deserved  well  of  his 
country. 

If  Holne  Chase  be  beautiful,  so  is  the  Dart  above 
New  Bridge.     A  more  interesting  drive  can  hardly 


THE   COFFIN-STONE  195 

be  taken  than  one  branching  off  from  the  main  road 
before  reaching  Pound's  Gate  and  following  a  grassy 
track  called  "  Dr.  Blackall's  Drive,"  that  sweeps  round 
the  heights  above  the  Dart  and  rejoins  the  road 
between  Mel  Tor  and  Sharpie  Tor. 

But  to  see  the  Dart  valley  in  perfection  the  river 
should  be  followed  up  on  foot  from  New  Bridge  to 
that  of  Dartmeet,  and  thence  up  to  Post  Bridge. 

The  descent  to  Dartmeet  by  the  road  is  one  of 
over  five  hundred  feet.  Halfway  is  the  Coffin-stone, 
on  which  five  crosses  are  cut,  and  which  is  split  in 
half— the  story  goes,  by  lightning.  On  this  it  is 
customary  to  rest  a  dead  man  on  his  way  from  the 
moor  beyond  Dartmeet  to  his  final  resting-place  at 
Widdecombe.  When  the  coffin  is  laid  on  this  stone, 
custom  exacts  the  production  of  the  whisky  bottle, 
and  a  libation  all  round  to  the  manes  of  the  deceased. 

One  day  a  man  of  very  evil  life,  a  terror  to  his 
neighbours,  was  being  carried  to  his  burial,  and  his 
corpse  was  laid  on  the  stone  whilst  the  bearers 
regaled  themselves.  All  at  once,  out  of  a  passing 
cloud  shot  a  flash,  and  tore  the  coffin  and  the  dead 
man  to  pieces,  consuming  them  to  cinders,  and 
splitting  the  stone.  Do  you  doubt  the  tale?  See 
the  stone  cleft  by  the  flash. 

Among  the  many  hundreds  who  annually  visit 
Dartmeet,  I  do  not  suppose  that  more  than  one 
sees  the  real  beauties  to  which  this  spot  opens  the 
way.  Actually,  Dartmeet  Bridge  is  situated  at 
the  least  interesting  and  least  picturesque  point 
on  the  river. 

To  know  the  Dart  and  see  its  glories,  a  visitor 


196  HOLNE 

must  desert  the  bridge  and  ascend  the  river.  I 
will  indicate  to  him  two  walks,  each  of  remarkable 
beauty  and  each  an  easy  one. 

The  first  is  this :  Ascend  the  Dart  on  the  left. 
This  can  be  done  by  passing  through  a  gate 
above  Dartmeet  Cottage,  and  descending  to  the 
river,  where  remain  a  few  of  the  venerable  oaks  that 
once  abounded  at  Brimpts,  but  were  wantonly  cut 
down  at  the  beginning  of  this  century.  Ascend 
by  a  fisherman's  path  through  the  plantation  to 
where  the  wood  ends,  and  the  hills  falling  back 
reveal  a  pleasant  meadow,  with,  rising  out  of  it 
by  the  river,  a  holt  or  pile  of  rocks  overgrown  with 
oaks.  The  view  from  this  is  beautiful.  Proceeding 
half  a  mile  a  ruined  cottage  is  reached,  where  the 
stately  Yar  Tor  may  be  seen  to  advantage.  This 
ruin  is  called  Dolly's  Cot. 

Dolly,  who  has  given  her  name  to  this  ruin,  was  a 
somewhat  remarkable  woman.  She  lived  with  her 
brother,  orphans,  by  Princetown  when  Sir  Thomas 
Tyrwhitt  settled  at  Tor  Royal.  She  was  a  remark- 
ably handsome  girl,  and  she  seems  to  have  caught 
the  eye  of  this  gentleman,  who  located  her  and  her 
brother  in  the  lodge,  and  then,  as  the  brother  kept  a 
sharp  look-out  on  his  sister,  he  got  rid  of  him  by 
obtaining  for  him  an  appointment  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  where  he  looked  after  the  lighting,  and  had 
as  his  perquisite  the  ends  of  the  wax  tapers.  As 
fresh  candles  were  provided  every  day,  and  the 
sessions  were  at  times  short,  the  perquisites  were 
worth  a  good  deal. 

However,   if  the  brother  were   away   Dolly  had 


THE  CLEFT   ROCK    AUOVE   HOT.NE   CHASE 


DOLLY   TREBBLE  197 

another  to  watch  over  her,  one  Tom  Trebble,  a 
young  and  handsome  moorman,  who  did  not  at  all 
relish  the  manner  in  which  Sir  Thomas,  Warden 
of  the  Stannaries,  hovered  about  Miss  Dolly. 

But  a  climax  was  reached  when  the  Prince  Regent 
arrived  at  Tor  Royal  to  visit  his  forest  of  Dartmoor. 
The  Prince's  eye  speedily  singled  Dolly  out,  and  the 
blue  coat  and  brass  buttons,  white  ducks  tightly 
strapped,  and  the  curled-brimmed  hat  were  to  be 
seen  on  the  way  to  Dolly's  cottage  a  little  too  fre- 
quently to  please  Tom  Trebble.  So  to  cut  his 
anxieties  short  he  whisked  Dolly  on  to  the  pillion 
of  his  moor  cob  and  rode  off  with  her  to  Lydford, 
where  they  were  married.  Then  he  carried  her  away 
to  this  cottage — now  a  ruin — on  the  Dart,  to  which 
led  no  road,  hardly  a  path  even,  and  where  she  was 
likely  to  be  out  of  the  way  of  both  the  Prince  and 
his  humble  servant,  Sir  Thomas. 

In  this  solitary  cottage  Tom  and  Dolly  lived  for 
many  years.  She  survived  her  husband,  and  gained 
her  livelihood  by  working  at  the  tin-mine  of  Hex- 
worthy,  where  one  of  the  shafts  recently  sunk  was 
named  after  her. 

The  candle -snuffer  realised — so  it  was  said — a 
good  fortune  out  of  the  wax  taper-ends,  and  never 
returned  to  Dartmoor. 

Dolly  lived  to  an  advanced  age,  and  even  as  an 
old  woman  was  remarkably  handsome  and  of  a 
distinguished  appearance. 

It  is  now  difficult  to  collect  authentic  information 
concerning  her,  as  only  very  old  people  remember 
Dolly.      She  was  buried  at  Widdecombe,  and  aged 


198  HOLNE 

moor  folk  still  speak  of  her  funeral,  at  which  all 
the  women  mourners  wore  white  skirts,  i.e.  their 
white  petticoats  without  the  coloured  skirts  of  their 
gowns,  and  white  kerchiefs  pinned  as  crossovers  to 
cover  their  shoulders. 

The  distance  is  between  six  and  seven  miles. 
Dolly  was  borne  to  her  grave  by  the  tin-miners, 
and  followed  not  only  by  the  mine-workers,  but 
by  all  the  women  of  the  moorside,  and  all  in 
their  white  petticoats ;  and  as  they  went  they 
sang   psalms. 

From  Dolly's  Cot  the  hill  can  be  ascended  to 
'The  Seven  Sisters,"  seven  conspicuous  old  Scotch 
pines,  whereof  one  has  lost  its  head.  Thence  a 
road  is  reached  that  takes  a  visitor  back  to  Dart- 
meet  by  Brimpts. 

The  other  walk,  even  finer,  is  this :  Ascend  the 
hill  on  the  Ashburton  road  till  a  road  breaks  away 
to  the  left  to  Sherrill.  Follow  this,  when  on  the  col 
a  kistvaen,  inclosed  in  a  circle,  is  reached.  North  of 
this  is  a  much-ruined  set  of  stone  rows,  three  parallel 
lines  running  660  feet,  but  so  plundered  that  only 
158  stones  remain.  The  road  descends  to  a  pleasant 
little  settlement,  Sherrill,  or  Sher-well,  consisting  of 
a  farm  and  some  cottages.  The  Sher-well  bursts 
out  in  one  strong  spring  beside  the  road,  and  becomes 
a  good  stream  almost  directly. 

The  situation  is  warm  and  sheltered,  and  the 
ground  is  cultivated.  The  road  descends  to  the 
Wallabrook,  which  it  crosses,  to  Babeney.  Thence 
a  track  leads  down  the  Wallabrook  to  its  junction 
with  the  Dart,  where  is  disclosed  what  I  hold  to  be  one 


YAR   TOR  199 

of  the  finest,  if  not  the  finest  view  on  Dartmoor. 
A  tract  of  level  pasture  lies  at  the  junction  of 
the  streams,  and  from  this  Yar  Tor  soars  up  a 
veritable  mountain.  Few  of  the  Dartmoor  heights 
are  so  situated  as  to  show  themselves  to  such  ad- 
vantage. On  the  right,  a  spur  well  clothed  in  dark 
fir  plantations  comes  down  from  Brimpts  ;  and  on 
the  left  is  a  clitter  of  bold  granite  rocks.  The  time 
to  visit  this  is  certainly  the  evening,  when  Yar  Tor  is 
bathed  in  a  golden  glory,  and  the  woods  are  steeped 
in  royal  purple. 

Thence  a  path,  or  track  rather,  leads  down  the  Dart 
on  the  east  side,  past  Badgers'  Holt  to  the  bridge. 

And  perhaps  on  the  way  the  Graphis  scripta  may  be 
found,  but  it  is  chiefly  to  be  discovered  on  old  hollies, 
a  mysterious  writing,  characters  scrawled  by  delicate 
hands,  and  understandable  only  by  the  pixies,  who 
are  credited  with  thus  writing  their  messages  to  one 
another.  Actually  this  is  a  lichen,  that  strangely 
affects  a  script. 

It  was  at  Badgers'  Holt  that  old  Dan  Leaman 
lived,  on  whom  a  trick  was  played  which  I  have 
already  related  in  my  Book  of  the  West 

What  a  solitary  life  must  have  been  led  by  the 
occupants  of  the  scattered  farms  and  cottages  at 
Babeney,  Sherrill,  Dury,  and  the  like,  in  former  times  ! 
And  yet  those  who  occupied  them  got  to  love  the 
isolation.  A  woman  at  Sherrill,  who  had  been  in 
service  and  had  married  a  moorman,  said  to  me,  "  I 
wouldn't  live  here  if  I  could  help  it ;  but.  Lor'  bless  y', 
my  old  man,  there's  no  gettin'  he  away  from  atop  o' 
Widdecombe  chimney" — that  is  to  say,  the  level  of  the 


200  HOLNE 

church  tower.  The  reach  of  its  bells  formed  the 
world — the  only  world  in  which  he  cared  to  live.  In 
a  cottage  near  Sherrill  lived  an  old  woman  absolutely 
alone,  who  for  sixty  years  never  once  allowed  her  fire 
to  go  out. 

If  it  be  desired  to  open  out  Dartmoor,  a  road 
should  be  carried  up  the  Dart  from  New  Bridge  to 
Dartmeet,  and  thence,  still  following  the  river,  to 
Post  Bridge.  The  owners  of  the  banks  of  the  Dart 
below  New  Bridge  to  Holne  Bridge — in  fact,  of  Holne 
Chase — could  then  hardly  refuse  to  allow  it  to  be 
carried  through  their  land  to  Holne  Bridge,  and  then 
a  drive  would  be  created  passing  through  scenery 
unsurpassed  in  England.  Another  ought  to  be 
engineered  up  the  Webburn  from  its  meet  with  the 
Dart,  past  Lizwell  to  Widdecombe  ;  then  that  solitary 
village  would  be  at  once  accessible,  and  brought  into 
the  world. 

Below  Dartmeet  Bridge,  if  the  river  be  followed 
on  the  right  through  a  wood,  the  Pixy  Holt  is 
reached,  a  cave  in  which  the  little  good  folk  are 
supposed  to  dwell.  It  is  the  correct  thing  to  leave 
a  pin  or  some  other  trifle  in  acknowledgment  when 
visiting  their  habitation. 

Where  the  Okebrook  drops  into  the  West  Dart 
is  an  old  blowing-house,  with  moulds  for  the  tin, 
ruined,  and  with  a  stout  oak  growing  up  in  the 
midst.  There  are  also  mortar -stones  in  the  ruin. 
Above  Huccaby  Bridge  are  the  remains  of  a  fine 
circle  of  standing  stones  that  has  been  sadly  muti- 
lated.    Another,  far  more  perfect,  is  at  Sherberton. 

Near  the  bridge  is  Jolly  Lane  Cot,  the  house  of 


JOLLY    LANE    COT  201 

Sally  Satterleigh,  that  was  built  and  occupied  in 
one  day.  Her  father  was  desirous  of  marrying  a 
wife  and  bringing  her  to  a  home ;  but  he  had  no 
home  to  which  to  introduce  her,  and  the  farmers 
round  not  only  would  afford  no  help,  but  proved 
obstructive.  One  day  when  it  was  Holne  Revel,  and 
the  farmers  had  gone  thither,  the  labouring  people 
assembled  in  swarms,  set  to  work  and  built  up  the 
cottage,  and  before  the  farmers  returned,  lively  with 
drink,  from  the  revel,  the  man  was  in  the  cottage 
and  had  lighted  a  fire  on  the  hearth,  and  this  con- 
stituted a  freeholding  from  which  no  man  might 
dispossess  him.  This  man  was  a  notable  singer, 
and  his  old  daughter,  now  a  grandmother,  remem- 
bered some  of  his  songs.  One  wild  and  stormy 
day,  Mr.  Bussell,  of  Brazen  Nose  College,  now  Dr. 
Bussell  and  tutor  of  his  college,  drove  ov^er  with  me 
from  Princetown  to  get  her  songs  from  her. 

But  old  Sally  could  not  sit  down  and  sing.  We 
found  that  the  sole  way  in  which  we  could  extract 
the  ballads  from  her  was  by  following  her  about  as 
she  did  her  usual  work.  Accordingly  we  went  after 
her  when  she  fed  the  pigs,  or  got  sticks  from  the 
firewood  rick,  or  filled  a  pail  from  the  spring,  pencil 
and  notebook  in  hand,  dotting  down  words  and 
melody.  Finally  she  did  sit  to  peel  some  potatoes, 
when  Mr.  Bussell  with  a  MS.  music-book  in  hand, 
seated  himself  on  the  copper.  This  position  he 
maintained  as  she  sang  the  ballad  of  "  Lord  Thomas 
and  the  Fair  Eleanor,"  till  her  daughter  applied  fire 
under  the  cauldron,  and  Mr.  Bussell  was  forced  to 
skip  from  his  perch. 


202  HOLNE 

Holne  forms  the  extreme  eastern  end  of  a  long 
ridge  that  terminates  to  the  west  in  Down  Tor.  This 
hog's  back  stands  over  1,500  feet  above  the  sea,  and  is 
the  watershed.  From  it  stream  the  Avon,  the  Erme, 
the  Yealm,  and  the  Plym  in  a  southerly  direction, 
and  north  of  it  are  the  West  Dart  and  the  Swin- 
combe  river.  It  is  a  rounded  back  of  moor,  without 
granite  tors,  thickly  sown  with  bogs.  But  there  is 
a  track,  the  Sandy  Way,  that  threads  these  morasses 
from  Holne,  and  leads  to  Childe's  Tomb,  a  kistvaen, 
with  a  cross  near  it. 

The  story  is  well  known. 

A  certain  Childe,  a  hunter,  lost  his  way  in  winter 
in  this  wilderness.  Snow  fell  thick  and  his  horse 
could  go  no  further. 

"  In  darkness  blind,  he  could  not  find 
Where  he  escape  might  gain, 
Long  time  he  tried,  no  track  espied, 
His  labours  all  in  vain. 

"  His  knife  he  drew,  his  horse  he  slew 
As  on  the  ground  it  lay  ; 
He  cut  full  deep,  therein  to  creep, 
And  tarry  till  the  day. 

"  The  winds  did  blow,  fast  fell  the  snow, 
And  darker  grew  the  night. 
Then  well  he  wot  he  hope  might  not 
Again  to  see  the  light. 

"  So  with  his  finger  dipp'd  in  blood, 
-  He  scrabbled  on  the  stones — 
'  This  is  my  will,  God  it  fulfil. 
And  buried  be  my  bones. 

"  '  Whoe'er  it  be  that  findeth  me, 
And  brings  me  to  a  grave  ; 
The  lands  that  now  to  me  belong     . 
In  Plymstock  he  shall  have.'" 


CHILDE'S    TOMB  203 

The  story  goes  on  to  say  that  when  the  monks 
of  Buckfast  heard  of  this  they  made  ready  to  trans- 
port the  body  to  their  monastery.  But  the  monks 
of  Tavistock  were  beforehand  with  them ;  they  threw 
a  bridge  over  the  Tavy,  ever  after  called  Guile 
Bridge,  and  carried  the  dead  Childe  to  their  abbey. 
Thenceforth  they  possessed  the  Plymstock  estate. 

The  kistvaen  is,  of  course,  not  Childe's  grave,  for 
it  is  prehistoric,  and  Childe  was  not  buried  there. 
But  the  cross  may  have  been  set  up  to  mark  the  spot 
where  he  was  found. 

Childe's  Cross  was  quite  perfect,  standing  on  a 
three-stepped  pedestal,  till  in  or  about  1812,  when  it 
was  nearly  destroyed  by  the  workmen  of  a  Mr. 
Windeatt,  who  was  building  a  farmhouse  near  by. 
The  stones  that  composed  it  have,  however,  been  for 
the  most  part  recovered,  and  the  cross  has  been 
restored  as  well  as  might  be  under  the  circum- 
stances. 

The  Sandy  Way  was  doubtless  a  very  ancient  track 
across  the  moor  from  east  to  west,  as  it  is  marked 
by  crosses,  as  may  be  judged  by  the  Ordnance  map. 
I,  Home's  Cross ;  2  and  3,  crosses  on  Down  Ridge ; 
4  and  5,  crosses  on  Terhill ;  6  and  7,  crosses  near  Fox 
Tor,  in  the  Newtake ;  8,  Childe's  Cross ;  9,  Seward's 
or  Nun's  Cross  ;   10,  cross  on  Walkhampton  Common. 

Swincombe,  formerly  Swan-combe,  runs  to  the 
north  of  the  ridge,  and  has  the  sources  of  its  river 
in  the  Fox  Tor  mires  and  near  Childe's  Tomb. 

It  runs  north-east,  and  then  abruptly  passes  north 
to  decant  into  the  West  Dart. 

Near   this   is   Gobbetts   Mine,   a  very   interesting 


204 


HOLNE 


spot,  for  here  are  samples  of  the  modern  deep  mining 
shaft,  the  shallow  workings,  and  the  deep,  open  cut- 
tings of  the  earlier  times,  and  the  stream  works  of 
the  "old  men."  Thus  we  have  on  one  spot  a  com- 
pendium of  the  history  of  mining  for  tin.  Among 
the  relics  lying   about   are  the   remains  of   an   old 


CRAZING-MILL   STONE,    UPPER   GOBBETTS. 


crazing-mill,  consisting  of  the  upper  and  the  nether 
stones.  The  nether  stone  is  3  feet  10  inches  in 
diameter,  and  10  inches  thick.  In  the  periphery  is  a 
groove  forming  a  lip,  that  served  readily  to  discharge 
the  ground  material. 

The  upper  stone  has  a  roughly  convex  back,  and 
an  eye  as  well  as  four  holes  drilled  in  it.     Into  these 


CRAZING-MILL   STONES        205 

holes  posts  were  fitted,  which  carried  two  bars,  so 
that  the  stone  was  made  to  revolve  by  horse  or  man 
power,  like  the  arrangement  of  a  capstan. 

The  hole  or  eye  of  the  nether  stone  was  for  the 
purpose  of  receiving  a  conical  plug,  the  apex  of 
which  penetrated  partly  into  the  eye  of  the  upper 
stone,  and  served  the  double  purpose  of  keeping  the 
runner  stone  in  position  and  of  distributing  the  feed 
equally  on  the  grinding-surfaces.      To  further  assist 


METHOD  OF   USING  THE  MILL-STONES.      SECTION. 


this  are  four  curved  master-iurrows  or  grooves,  radiat- 
ing from  the  eye  of  the  grinding-surface  of  the  upper 
stone.  The  mill,  worked  by  men  or  by  horses,  was 
of  slow  speed,  and  water  was  introduced  to  assist 
the  propulsion  of  the  ground  material  towards  the 
grooved  lip  in  the  periphery  of  the  stone.  This  and 
the  feed  were,  of  course,  introduced  through  the 
circular  hole  in  the  top  stone. 

On  the  site  of  what  was  evidently  the  blowing- 
house  is  a  mould-stone,  about  4  feet  by  3.  The 
mould  is  15  inches  long  by  11  inches  wide  at  one 


2o6  HOLNE 

end,  and  lO  inches  at  the  other,  and  4  to  5  inches 
deep.     There  are  also  cavities  for  sample  ingots. 

Other  stones  lie  about  with  hollows  worked  in 
them,  that  seem  to  have  been  mortar-stones,  used 
for  pounding  up  the  ore,  at  a  period  earlier  than  that 
at  which  the  crazing-mill  was  introduced. 

Further  up  the  Swincombe,  on  the  left,  a  little 
stream  descends  that  has  had  its  bed  turned  over 
and  over.  This  is  Deep  Swincombe,  and  here  are 
the  remains  of  the  earliest  known  smelting-house 
yet  noticed  on  Dartmoor.  It  has  been  fully  de- 
scribed in  a  previous  chapter.  On  all  sides  we 
discover  traces  of  those  who  in  ancient  times  came 
to  Dartmoor  and  toiled  after  metal.  We  go  in 
swarms  there  now — to  spend  our  metal  and  idle  and 
gain  health.  So  the  old  order  changeth,  and  with 
it  men's  moods  and  manners. 

To  return  to  Holne.  In  the  parsonage  Charles 
Kingsley  was  born,  but  the  house  has  since  been  to 
a  large  extent  rebuilt.  On  a  fly-sheet  of  the  Book  of 
Burial  Registers  is  the  entry,  "  The  Vicarage  House, 
being  very  dilapidated,  was  taken  down  and  rebuilt 
by  the  Vicar  (the  Rev.  John  D.  Parham)  in  the  year 
1832."  It  was  in  that  "  very  dilapidated  "  house  that 
Charles  Kingsley  was  born. 

A  curious  custom  existed  at  Holne,  now  given  up. 
There  is,  near  the  village,  a  "  Ploy  (play)  Field  "  in 
which  stood  formerly  a  rude  granite  stone  six  or 
seven  feet  high. 

On  May  morning,  before  daybreak,  the  young  men 
of  the  village  were  wont  to  assemble  there  and  then 
proceed  to  the  moor,  where  they  selected  a  ram  lamb, 


OLD   CUSTOMS  207 

and,  after  running  it  down,  brought  it  in  triumph 
to  the  Ploy  Field,  fastened  it  to  the  granite  post,  cut 
its  throat,  and  then  roasted  it  whole — skin,  wool,  etc. 
At  midday  a  struggle  took  place,  at  the  risk  of  cut 
hands,  for  a  slice,  it  being  supposed  to  confer  luck 
for  the  ensuing  year  on  the  fortunate  devourer.  As 
an  act  of  gallantry  the  young  men  sometimes  fought 
their  way  through  the  crowd  to  get  a  slice  for  the 
chosen  amongst  the  young  women,  all  of  whom,  in 
their  best  dresses,  attended  the  Ram  Feast,  as  it 
was  called.  Dancing,  wrestling,  and  other  games, 
assisted  by  copious  libations  of  cider  during  the 
afternoon,  prolonged  the  festivity  till  midnight.  This 
is  now  entirely  of  the  past,  but  a  somewhat  similar 
popular  festival  survives  at  King's  Teignton,  or  did 
so  till  recently.  There  Whitsuntide  is  the  season 
chosen.  A  lamb  is  drawn  about  the  parish  on 
Whitsun  Monday  in  a  cart  covered  with  garlands 
of  lilac,  laburnum,  and  other  flowers,  when  persons 
are  requested  to  give  something  towards  the  animal 
and  attendant  expenses.  On  Tuesday  morning  it  is 
killed  and  roasted  whole  in  the  middle  of  the  village. 
The  lamb  is  then  sold  in  slices  to  the  poor  at  a 
cheap  rate.  The  story  told  to  account  for  this 
festival  is  that  the  village  once  suffered  from  a 
dearth  of  water,  when  the  inhabitants  were  advised 
to  pray  for  water ;  whereupon  a  fountain  burst  forth 
in  a  meadow  about  a  third  of  a  mile  above  the  river, 
in  an  estate  now  called  Rydon,  a  supply  sufficient 
to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  villagers.  A  lamb, 
it  is  said,  has  ever  since  been  sacrificed  as  a  return 
offering  at  Whitsuntide  in  the  manner  above  men- 
tioned. 


2o8  HOLNE 

The  said  water  appears  like  a  large  pond,  from 
which  in  rainy  weather  may  be  seen  jets  springing 
up  some  inches  above  the  surface  in  many  parts. 

I  know  the  case  of  a  farmer  on  the  edge  of 
Dartmoor,  whose  cattle  were  afflicted  with  some 
disorder  in  1879;  he  thereupon  conveyed  a  sheep  to 
the  ridge  above  his  house,  sacrificed  and  burnt  it 
there,  as  an  offering  to  the  Pysgies.  The  cattle  at 
once  began  to  recover,  and  did  well  after,  nor  were 
there  any  fresh  cases  of  sickness  amongst  them. 
Since  then  I  have  been  told  of  other  and  very 
similar  cases. 


CHAPTER  XIV, 
IVYBRIDGE 

The  moors  on  the  south  not  bold — South  Brent — Destruction  of  the 
screen — The  Avon — Zeal  Plains  crowded  with  prehistoric  re- 
mains— The  Abbots'  Way — Huntingdon's  Cross— Petre's  Cross 
— Hobajohn's  Cross— Stone  row — Remains  upon  Erme  Plains — 
The  Staldon  stone  row — Other  rows — Beehive  huts — Harford 
church — Hall — The  Duchess  of  Kingston — The  Yealm  valley — 
Blowing -houses  — Long  wall  — Hawns  and  Dendles — The  tripper 
and  ferns — Wisdome— Slade — Fardell  — The  Fardell  Stone. 

THIS  not  very  interesting  spot  may  be  chosen 
as  a  centre  whence  the  Avon,  Erme,  and  Yealm 
river  valleys  may  be  explored.  The  distances  are 
considerable,  but  the  railway  facilitates  reaching 
starting-points — South  Brent  for  the  Avon,  and 
Corn  wood  for  the  Yealm.  It  is  advisable  to  ascend 
one  river,  cross  a  ridge,  and  descend  another  river. 

The  moors  on  this,  the  south,  side  are  by  no  means 
so  bold  as  are  those  on  the  other  sides,  but  the  valleys 
are  hardly  to  be  surpassed  for  beauty;  and  they  give 
access  to  very  remarkable  groups  of  antiquities,  the 
distance  to  some  of  which  beyond  inclosed  land, 
and  the  absence  of  roads  on  this  part  of  the  moor 
has  saved  these  latter  from  destruction. 

In  Ivybridge  itself  there  is  absolutely  nothing 
worth  seeing,  but  the  churches  of  Ugborough  and 
Ermington  richly  deserve  a  visit ;  and  there  are 
p  209 


2IO  IVYBRIDGE 

some  old  manor  houses,  as  Fardell,  Fillham,  Slade, 
and  Fowelscombe,  that  may  be  seen  with  interest. 
We  will  begin  with  the  valley  of  the  Avon. 

South  Brent  is  dominated  by  Brent  Hill,  that 
was  formerly  crowned  with  a  chapel  dedicated  to 
S.  Michael.  The  parish  church,  a  foundation  of 
S.  Petrock,  possessed  a  fine  carved  oak  screen. 
The  church  has,  however,  been  taken  in  hand  by 
that  iconoclast  the  ''restorer,"  who  has  left  it  empty, 
swept  and  garnished — a  thing  of  nakedness  and  a 
woe  for  ever.  The  screen — the  one  glory  of  the 
church — was  cast  forth  into  the  graveyard,  and  there 
allowed  to  rot. 

The  Avon  foams  down  from  the  moor  through  a 
contracted  throat,  affording  scenes  of  great  beauty 
in  its  ravine.  It  receives  the  Glazebrook  some  way 
below  South  Brent,  and  the  Bala  about  the  same 
distance  above  it. 

The  river  has  to  be  ascended  for  two  miles  and 
a  half  before  Shipley  Bridge  is  reached,  and  then 
the  moor  is  in  front  of  one,  with  Zeal  Plains  spread 
out,  strewn  with  prehistoric  settlements  that  have 
not  as  yet  been  properly  investigated. 

The  Abbots'  Way,  a  track  from  Buckfast  to 
Tavistock,  crosses  the  Avon  at  Huntingdon's  Cross, 
a  rude  unchamfered  stone  four  feet  and  a  half  high. 
It  stands  immediately  within  the  forest  bounds.  The 
moors  already  traversed  are  the  commons  of  Brent 
and  Dean.  The  cross  is  romantically  situated  in 
a  rocky  basin,  the  rising  ground  about  it  covered 
with  patches  of  heather,  with  here  and  there  a  granite 
boulder  protruding  through  the  turf 


THE   ABBOTS'   WAY  211 

"All  around  is  still  and  silent,  save  the  low  murmuring 
of  the  waters  as  they  run  over  their  pebbly  bed.  The  only 
signs  of  life  are  the  furry  inhabitants  of  the  warren,  and, 
perchance,  a  herd  of  Dartmoor  ponies,  wild  as  the  country 
over  which  they  roam,  and  a  few  sheep  or  cattle  grazing  on 
the  slopes.  The  cross  is  surrounded  by  rushes,  and  a 
dilapidated  wall — the  warren  enclosure — runs  near  it.""^ 

The  Abbots'  Way  may  here  be  distinctly  seen 
ascending  the  left  bank  of  the  Avon. 

On  Quick  Beam  Hill,  over  which  the  Abbots'  Way 
climbs  to  reach  the  valley  of  the  Erme,  is  another 
cross,  concerning  which  something  must  be  said,  as 
it  shows  that  not  only  educated  and  intelligent  archi- 
tects are  iconoclasts,  but  also  illiterate  and  stupid 
workmen. 

There  is  a  cairn  that  bears  the  name  of  Whita- 
burrow,  and  till  the  year  1847,  erect  on  it  in  the 
centre  stood  an  old  grey  moorstone  cross.  In  that 
year  a  company  was  formed  to  extract  naphtha  from 
the  peat,  and  its  works  were  established  near  Shipley 
Bridge,  to  which  the  peat  was  conveyed  from  this 
spot  in  tram-waggons. 

There  being  no  place  of  shelter  near,  the  labourers 
erected  a  house  on  the  summit  of  the  cairn,  which 
measures  one  hundred  and  ninety  feet  in  circum- 
ference, and  requiring  a  large  stone  as  a  support 
for  their  chimney-breast,  they  knocked  off  the  arms 
of  the  cross  and  employed  the  shaft  for  that  purpose. 
The  house  has  disappeared  with  the  exception  of  the 
foundations  and  about  three  feet  in  height  of  walling, 

•  Crossing,  Ancient  Crosses  of  Dartmoor,  p.  15. 


212  IVYBRIDGE 

but  the  poor  old  maimed  shaft  stands  there  aloft,  just 
as  the  poor  old  maimed  church  of  South  Brent  stands 
on  the  river  far  below.  Each  has  lost  that  which 
made  it  significant  and  beautiful,  each  mutilated  by 
the  stupidity  of  man. 

The  cross  takes  its  name  from  Sir  William  Petre 
of  Tor  Brian,  who  possessed  certain  rights  over 
Brent  Moor.  He  was  Secretary  of  State  in  four 
reigns — those  of  Henry  VHL,  Edward  VI.,  Mary,  and 
Elizabeth — and  seems  to  have  conformed  to  which- 
ever religion  was  favoured  by  the  Sovereign,  like  the 
Vicar  of  Bray.  He  died  in  1571,  and  was  the 
ancestor  of  the  present  Lord  Petre. 

On  Ugborough  Moor,  that  adjoins,  is  a  third  cross, 
called  that  of  Hobajohn,  which  is  planted,  singularly 
enough,  in  the  midst  of  a  stone  row.  This  row 
starts  on  Butterdon  Hill,  above  Ivybridge,  and  passes 
within  a  short  distance  of  Sharp  Tor.  I  have  not 
seen  it,  but  learn  that  it,  like  most  other  stone  rows, 
starts  from  a  cairn  inclosed  within  upright  stones. 
It  must,  if  really  a  stone  row,  be  something  like 
three  miles  in  length.  The  cross  has  also  been 
mutilated,  and  lies  prostrate. 

A  fourth  cross,  Spurle's  or  Pearl's  Cross,  on 
Ugborough  Moor,  has  lost  its  shaft. 

The  Abbots'  Way  from  Avon  valley  leads  to  the 
Erme  valley,  where  Redlake  enters  it  at  a  very 
interesting  point.  Here,  at  the  junction  of  this 
feeder,  is  a  well-preserved  blowing-house,  with  its 
wheel-pit  and  with  its  tin-moulds  lying  in  the  ruins. 

The  whole  of  Erme  Plains  and  the  valley  for  three 
miles    down    is    simply    crowded    with    hut    circles, 


STONE    ROWS  213 

pounds,  and  other  remains.  On  the  height  above, 
Staldon  Moor,  is  a  stone  row  of  really  astounding 
length,  of  which  something  has  been  already  said. 
It  starts  at  the  south  end  from  a  large  circle,  which 
formerly  inclosed  a  cairn,  and  stretches  away  to 
the  north,  over  hill  and  down  dale,  for  two  miles 
and  a  quarter,  and  terminates  in  a  kistvaen.  The 
stones  are  not  large,  but  the  row  is  fairly  intact. 

Due  south  of  this,  on  the  south  side  of  the  highest 
point  of  Stall  Moor,  Staldon  Barrow,  are  two  more 
stone  rows,  almost,  but  not  quite,  in  a  line.  In  the 
neighbourhood  are  many  cairns  and  kistvaens. 
The  stones  here  are  larger.  Taken  together  the 
rows  run  over  i,4(X)  feet.  They  can  be  seen  from 
Cornwood  Station  when  the  light  is  favourable. 

Again  another  row  on  Burford  Down,  a  continua- 
tion of  the  same  moor,  starts  from  a  circle  containing 
a  kistvaen  near  Tristis  Rock,  and  stretches  away 
north  to  a  wall  and  across  an  inclosed  field,  but  here 
it  has  been  sadly  pillaged  for  the  construction  of  the 
wall.  It  still  runs  1,500  feet.  The  Erme  valley  has 
been  much  worked  by  streamers,  and  some  of  the 
mining  operations  have  been  carried  on  at  a  com- 
paratively recent  period. 

By  the  side  of  a  little  lateral  gully  on  the  right 
hand  in  descending  the  river  is  a  beehive  hut  among 
the  streamers'  mounds  ;  it  is  quite  intact,  and  shelter 
may  be  taken  in  it  from  a  passing  storm.  It  is, 
however,  not  prehistoric,  but  is  a  miners'  cache. 

Another,  also  perfect,  is  a  little  further  down,  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river  before  reaching  Piles 
Wood. 


214  IVYBRIDGE 

Harford  church,  another  foundation  of  S.  Petrock, 
stands  high.  It  contains  nothing  of  interest  except 
an  altar  tomb  with  brasses  upon  it,  in  memory  of 
Thomas  Williams,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
of  the  family  of  that  name  formerly  resident  at 
Stowford,  in  the  parish.  And  in  the  second  place,  a 
monument  to  John  and  Agnes  Prideaux,  the  parents 
of  John  Prideaux,  Bishop  of  Worcester.  This  was 
set  up  by  the  latter  in   1639. 

Hall,  not  far  from  the  church,  was  for  some  time 
the  residence  of  the  notorious  Elizabeth  Chudleigh, 
Duchess  of  Kingston,  who  was  tried  and  condemned 
for  bigamy.  It  was  a  hard  case.  She  was  born  in 
1726,  and  was  the  daughter  of  Colonel  Thomas 
Chudleigh,  who  died  when  Elizabeth  was  quite  a 
child.  In  1744,  when  she  was  aged  only  eighteen, 
she  visited  her  maternal  aunt,  Anne  Hanmer,  at 
Lainston,  near  Winchester,  met  at  the  Winchester 
Races  Lieutenant  Hervey,  second  son  of  Lord  Hervey, 
and  grandson  of  the  Earl  of  Bristol,  who  was  then 
aged  twenty.  He  was  invited  to  Lainston,  and  one 
night  in  a  foolish  frolic,  at  eleven  o'clock,  with  the 
connivance,  if  not  at  the  instigation,  of  Mrs.  Hanmer, 
Elizabeth  was  married  to  Lieutenant  Hervey  by  the 
rector  in  the  little  roofless  ruin  of  a  church.  No 
registers  were  signed,  and  the  bridegroom  left  in 
two  days  to  rejoin  his  ship,  and  sailed  for  the  West 
Indies. 

She  never  after  that  received  Lieutenant  Hervey 
as  her  husband,  and  he  instituted  a  suit  in  the 
Consistory  Court  of  the  Bishop  of  London  for  the 
jactitation  of  the  marriage,  and  sentence  was  given 


DUCHESS   OF   KINGSTON      215 

in  1769  declaring  that  the  marriage  form  gone 
through  in  1744  was  null  and  void.  On  the 
strength  of  this  Elizabeth  married  the  Duke  of 
Kingston,  March  8,   1769. 

No  attempt  was  made  during  the  lifetime  of  the 
Duke  to  dispute  the  legality  of  the  union ;  neither 
he  nor  Elizabeth  had  the  least  doubt  that  the  former 
marriage  had  been  legally  dissolved.  But  when  the 
Duke  left  all  his  great  fortune  to  Elizabeth,  then  his 
nephews  were  furious,  and  raked  up  against  her  the 
charge  of  bigamy,  on  the  grounds  that  the  sentence 
of  the  Consistory  Court  was  invalid.  She  was  tried 
in  Westminster  Hall  before  her  peers  in  1776,  and 
the  trial  lasted  five  days. 

The  penalty  for  bigamy  was  death,  but  she  could 
escape  this  sentence  by  claiming  the  benefit  of  a 
statute  of  William  and  Mary,  which  commuted 
death  to  branding  in  the  hand  and  imprisonment. 
The  peers  found  her  guilty,  but  she  escaped  punish- 
ment by  flying  to  the  Continent,  where  she  died 
in   1788.* 

Harford  Hall,  where  she  resided,  has  about  it  no 
architectural  features ;  it  never  can  have  been  other 
than  a  small  mansion,  and  is  now  a  mere  farmhouse. 
The  trees  around  it  alone  indicate  that  it  was  at  one 
time  a  gentleman's  seat. 

If  now  we  strike  across  Stall  Moor  to  the  Yealm 
we  come  on  Yealm  Steps,  where  the  river  falls  over 
a  mass  of  granite  debris.     Here  are  two  blowing- 


•  I  have  told  her  story  in  full  in  Historic  Oddities  and  Strange 
Events.     Methuen  and  Co.,   1889. 


2i6  IVYBRIDGE 

houses,  one  above  the  steps  and  the  other  below. 
The  lower  house  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  stream 
is  a  mere  heap  of  ruins  with,  however,  the  door-jamb 
standing  and  facing  the  north."*  No  wheel-pit  is 
visible,  but  there  are  traces  of  a  watercourse  at  a 
high  level  to  the  north-east  of  the  hut.  Near  the 
entrance  is  a  stone  with  one  perfect  mould  in  it,  and 
another  imperfect.  A  second  mould-stone  is  lying 
near  an  angle  in  the  eastern  wall  of  the  house.  It 
has  in  it  two  moulds  adjoining  each  other — one  at 
a  lower  level  than  the  other,  and  connected  by  a 
channel.  The  high-level  cavity  is  15  inches  long, 
8  inches  wide,  and  3  inches  deep.  At  one  end  is 
a  groove  one  inch  deep,  perpendicular,  and  running 
down  the  side  of  the  mould  three  inches ;  that  is, 
from  top  to  bottom. 

The  low-level  mould  is  17  inches  long,  12  inches 
wide,  and  5  inches  deep.  These  cavities  have  been 
used  for  the  purification  of  tin,  for  the  molten  metal 
mixed  with  furnace  impurities  poured  in  on  the 
high-level  hollow  would  flow  in  a  purer  condition 
into  the  low-level  mould. 

This  blowing-house  has  been  excavated,  somewhat 
superficially,  but  nothing  was  found  in  it  to  give 
token  of  the  period  to  which  it  belonged.  About 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  further  up  the  river,  but  on  the 
western  bank,  is  another  ruin.  The  doorway,  which 
is  very  imperfect,  is  on  the  eastern  side.  One  mould- 
stone  remains,  containing  a  mould  17  inches  long, 
12  inches  wide,  and  from  4  to  5  inches  deep. 

*  This  is  the  scene  chosen  by  me  for  my  story  Guavas  the  Tinner. 


THE  TRIPPER  AND   FERNS     217 

The  whole  slope  of  Stall  Moor  towards  the  south 
is  strewn  with  hut  circles,  and  between  the  Yealm 
and  Broadall  Lake  is  a  pound  containing  several. 
On  the  further  side  of  the  stream  is  another  pound, 
at  which  begins  a  singular  wall  that  extends  for  over 
three  miles  as  far  as  the  Plym  at  Trowlesworthy 
Warren.  For  what  purpose  this  wall  was  erected — 
whether  as  a  boundary,  or  whether  for  defence — 
cannot  be  determined.  It  is  in  connection  with 
several  pounds  and  clusters  of  hut  circles. 

In  the  valley  of  Hawns  and  Dendles  is  a  pretty 
cascade,  a  great  haunt  of  the  tripper,  who  ravages  the 
Yealm  valley  and  tears  up  and  carries  off  the  ferns 
and  roQts  of  wild  flowers. 

A  few  instances  of  the  habits  of  the  tripper  may 
not  seem  amiss,  as  exhibited  in  the  Yealm  valley. 

Blachford  was  the  residence  of  the  late  Lord 
Blachford,  the  friend  of  Gladstone. 

One  day  my  lady  saw  a  woman — a  tripper — in 
front  of  the  house,  where  there  is  a  rockery,  tearing 
up  ferns.     Lady  Blachford  rushed  forth  to  interfere. 

"  Oh  ! "  said  the  tripper,  '*  I  only  did  it  so  as  to  get 
a  sight  of  Lord  Blachford.  I  thought  if  I  executed 
some  mischief  I  might  draw  him  forth." 

A  peculiarly  fine  rhododendron  grew  in  front  of  the 
vicarage.  It  attracted  the  tripper  by  its  beautiful 
masses  of  flower.  One  evening  an  individual  of 
this  not  uncommon  species  proceeded  to  tear  it  up, 
assisted  by  trowel  and  knife;  and  finally  having 
hacked  through  the  roots,  carried  it  off;  but  finding 
the  load  burdensome  at  the  first  hill,  threw  it  away. 

A  gentleman  residing  further  down  the  valley  was 


2i8  IVYBRIDGE 

cultivating  a  rare  flowering  shrub.  After  seven  years 
it  put  forth  its  tassels  of  bloom.  He  tarried  a  day 
or  two  before  gathering  the  blossoms  till  they  were 
fully  out.  His  wife  was  an  invalid,  and  he  purposed 
showing  them  to  her  when  in  their  full  perfection. 
But  before  he  carried  his  purpose  into  execution,  he 
went  to  Cornwood  Station  to  meet  a  friend,  when 
he  perceived  a  "lady"  on  the  platform  with  her 
hands  full  of  the  flowers.  He  approached  her  and 
civilly  inquired  where  she  had  obtained  the  beautiful 
bunches. 

"  Oh !  they  were  growing  in  Mr.  P.'s  ground,  so 
I  went  in  and  gathered  them.  I  know  Mr.  P.  well, 
and  I  am  convinced  he  would  not  object." 

"You  have  the  advantage  of  me,  madam.  I  am 
Mr.  P.  But  to  a  lady,  as  to  a  Christian,  all  things 
are  lawful,  though  all  things  may  not  be  expedient." 

A  friend  threw  open  his  grounds  to  a  great  party 
of  school  teachers  and  their  scholars.  The  neigh- 
bourhood had  been  denuded  of  the  Osmunda  regalis 
by  the  tripper,  but  the  beautiful  fern  had  a  sanctuary 
in  his  preserves.  However,  the  visitors  dug  up,  tore 
away,  and  destroyed  his  plants  wholesale,  and  re- 
turned to  town  burdened  with  the  wreckage.  The 
Osmunda  is  a  slow  grower,  and  takes  many  years 
to  reach  maturity. 

So  much  for  the  tripper.  I  do  not  in  the  least 
suppose  any  of  this  race  will  see  more  of  my  book 
than  the  outside.  But  I  write  this  for  the  intelligent 
visitor,  to  warn  him  against  Hawns  and  Dendles 
on  Plymouth  early  closing  day  (Wednesday)  in 
summer. 


WISDOME— SLADE  219 

Wisdome  is  the  ancestral  house  of  the  Rogers 
family,  of  which  the  late  Lord  Blachford  was  the  repre- 
sentative. It  is  a  modest,  picturesque  old  moorland 
mansion  of  a  small  gentle  family.  Slade,  on  the 
other  hand,  must  have  been  a  house  of  consequence ; 
it  still  possesses  a  noble  hall,  with  richly  carved 
oak  wainscotting.  Steart  has  handsome  carved 
armorial  gates ;  and  Fardell  is  remarkable  as  a  home 
of  the  Raleigh  family,  and  had  its  licensed  chapel. 
The  grandfather  of  the  navigator  lived  at  Fardell, 
and  Sir  Walter  himself  was  probably  there  much 
in  his  early  days.  Here  was  found  an  ogham 
inscription  on  a  stone,  now  in  the  British  Museum, 
which  shows  that  the  Irish  had  conquered  and 
colonised  Devon  as  far  south  as  Cornwood.  Other 
oghams  have  been  found  at  Tavistock,  and  at 
Lewannick,  near  Launceston. 

According  to  local  belief,  the  stone  indicated 
where  treasure  was  hid  ;  and  a  jingle  was  current 
in  the  neighbourhood  : — 

"  Between  this  stone  and  Fardell  Hall 
Lies  as  much  money  as  the  devil  can  haul." 

The  stone  bore  the  inscription,  "  Fanonii  Mac- 
quisini "  on  one  side,  and  "  Sapanni "  on  the  other. 
The  "  Mac "  in  the  name  is  conclusively  Irish,  as 
also  the  oghams. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

YELVERTON 

Yelverton  or  Elford  -  town— Longstone— The  Elfords— "  The  Silly 
Doe" — Mr.  Collier  on  otter-hunting — Sheeps  Tor  church — The 
reservoir — The  old  vicarage — The  Bull-ring — Rajah  Brooke  — 
Roman's  Cross — The  Deancombe  valley — Coaches — Down  Tor 
stone  row— Nun's  Cross — Roundy  Farm— Clakeywell  Pool — 
Strange  voices — Leather  Tor— Drizzlecombe  and  its  remains — 
Old  customs  at  Sheeps  Tor— Meavy — Church— Marchant's  Cross 
— China-clay  and  William  Cookworthy — The  Dewerstone — The 
Wild  Huntsman — Tavistock. 

YELVERTON  is  a  corruption  of  Elford-town. 
The  mansion  near  the  station  was  formerly  a 
seat  of  the  Elfords  of  Sheeps  Tor.  The  family  is 
now  extinct,  at  least  in  the  neighbourhood  where 
at  one  time  it  was  of  dignity  and  well  estated. 
Yelverton  is  itself  a  mere  collection  of  villa  resi- 
dences of  Plymouth  men  of  business,  but  it  forms 
a  convenient  point  of  departure  for  many  interesting 
expeditions. 

The  principal  residence  of  the  Elfords  was  at 
Longstone,  in  Sheeps  Tor,  where  the  old  house 
remains  little  altered,  and  where  the  windstrew 
should  be  seen,  a  granite  platform,  raised  above  the 
field,  on  which  thrashing  could  be  carried  on  by 
the  aid  of  the  winds  that  carried  away  the  chaff. 

The  tor  which  gives  its  name  to  the  village  and 
parish  stands  by  itself,  and  rises  to  about  1,200  feet. 

220 


(  ,  c 


THE    ELFORDS  221 

It  is  a  picturesque  hill,  and  only  needs  the  addition 
of  another  couple  of  hundred  put  to  its  elevation 
to  make  it  perfect. 

The  basin  below  the  village  was  anciently  a  lake, 
the  water  being  retained  by  a  barrier  of  rock  where 
stands  now  the  dam  for  the  reservoir.  This,  in  time, 
was  silted  up  to  the  depth  of  ninety  feet,  and  now 
the  Plymouth  Corporation,  by  the  construction  of  a 
fine  and  eminently  picturesque  barrier  across  the 
narrow  gorge  through  which  the  Meavy  flows,  have 
reconverted  this  basin  into  a  lake. 

Near  the  summit  of  the  tor  is  the  Pixy  Cave,  in 
which  Squire  Elford  remained  concealed  whilst  the 
Roundheads  searched  Longstone  for  him.  Some 
faithful  tenants  in  the  village  kept  him  supplied  with 
food  till  pursuit  was  at  an  end.  The  Elfords  in- 
herited Longstone  from  the  Scudamores  at  the  close 
of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  parish  was  then  called 
Shettes  Tor,  from  the  Celtic  syth,  steep ;  but  the 
name  has  been  altered  in  this  or  last  century.  The 
last  Elford  of  Sheeps  Tor  was  John,  who  married 
Admonition  Prideaux,  and  died  without  issue  in  1748, 
his  six  children  having  predeceased  him.  A  side 
branch  of  the  family — to  which,  however,  Sheeps  Tor 
did  not  fall — produced  Sir  William  Elford,  Bart,  of 
Bickham,  but  he  died  in  1837,  without  male  issue, 
and  the  title  became  extinct.  His  monument  is  in 
Totnes  church. 

A  man  named  Cole,  working  at  the  granite  quarries 
at  Merrivale  Bridge,  a  few  years  ago  sang  me  a  song 
concerning  a  doe  that  escaped  from  Elford  Park,  which 
was  probably  situated  where  is  now  Yelverton. 


222  YELVERTON 


THE   SILLY   DOE 

Give  ear  unto  my  mournful  song 

Gay  huntsmen  every  one, 
And  unto  you  I  will  relate 

My  sad  and  doleful  moan. 
O  here  I  be  a  silly  Doe, 

From  Elford  Park  I  strayed, 
In  leaving  of  my  company 

Myself  to  death  betrayed. 

The  master  said  I  must  be  slain 

For  'scaping  from  his  bounds  : 
"  O  keeper,  wind  the  hunting  horn, 

And  chase  him  with  your  hounds." 
A  Duke  of  royal  blood  was  there. 

And  hounds  of  noble  race  ; 
They  gathered  in  a  rout  next  day, 

And  after  me  gave  chase. 

They  roused  me  up  one  winter  morn. 

The  frost  it  cut  my  feet, 
My  red,  red  blood  came  trickling  down, 

And  made  the  scent  lie  sweet. 
For  many  a  mile  they  did  me  run, 

Before  the  sun  went  down, 
Then  I  was  brought  to  give  a  teen. 

And  fall  upon  the  groun'. 

The  first  rode  up,  it  was  the  Duke  : 

Said  he,  "  I'll  have  my  will ! " 
A  blade  from  out  his  belt  he  drew 

My  sweet  red  blood  to  spill. 
So  with  good  cheer  they  murdered  me, 

As  I  lay  on  the  ground  ; 
My  harmless  life  it  bled  away. 

Brave  huntsmen  cheering  round. 


HUNTING  223 

I  am  a  little  puzzled  as  to  whether  the  dry  sarcasm 
in  this  song  is  intentional.*  The  melody  is  peculiarly 
sweet  and  plaintive.  When  a  royal  duke  hunted  last 
on  Dartmoor  I  have  been  unable  to  ascertain. 

The  red  deer  were  anciently  common  on  Dartmoor. 
It  was  not  till  King  John's  reign  that  Devon  was 
disafforested,  with  the  exception  of  Dartmoor  and 
Exmoor.  But  the  deer  were  mischievous  to  the 
crops  of  the  farmer,  and  to  the  young  plantations, 
and  farmers,  yeomen,  and  squires  combined  to  get 
rid  of  them  from  Dartmoor.  Still,  however,  occa- 
sionally one  runs  from  Exmoor  and  takes  refuge  in 
the  woods  about  the  Dart,  the  Plym,  and  the  Tavy. 

But  it  is  for  fox,  hare,  and  otter  hunting  that  the 
sportsman  goes  to  Dartmoor,  and  not  for  the  deer. 
A  very  pretty  sight  it  is  to  see  a  pack  with  the 
scarlet  coats  after  it  sweeping  over  the  moorside  in 
pursuit  of  Reynard,  and  to  hear  the  music  of  the 
hounds  and  horns. 

For  the  harriers  the  great  week  is  that  after  hare- 
hunting  is  at  an  end  in  the  lowlands  or  "  in-country." 
Then  the  several  packs  that  have  hunted  through  the 
season  on  the  circumference  of  the  moor  unite  on  it, 
and  take  turns  through  the  week  on  the  moor  itself 
The  great  day  of  that  week  is  Believer  Day,  when 
the  meet  is  on  the  tor  of  that  name.  I  have  de- 
scribed it  in  my  Book  of  the  West,  and  will  not  repeat 
what  has  been  already  related.  But  I  will  venture  to 
quote  an  account  of  otter-hunting  on  the  Dart  from 
the  pen  of  Mr.  William  Collier,  than  whom  no  one 

*  I  have  given  it,  with  the  original  air,  in  the  Garland  of  Country 
Song,     Methuen. 


224  YELVERTON 

has  been  more  of   an  enthusiast   for  sport   on   the 
moor. 

"The  West  Dart  is  the  perfection  of  a  Dartmoor  river, 
flowing  bright  and  rapid  over  a  bed  of  granite  boulders 
richly  covered  with  moss  and  lichen,  its  banks  bedecked 
with  ferns  and  wild  flowers  of  the  moor,  and  fringed  with 
the  bog-myrtle  and  withy. 

"  Water  holds  scent  well,  and  the  whiff  so  fragrant  to  the 
nose  of  the  hound  rises  to  the  surface  and  floats  down 
stream,  calling  forth  his  musical  chant  of  praise.  For  this 
reason  otter-hunters  draw  up  stream,  and  before  the  lair  of 
the  otter  is  reached  the  welkin  rings  with  the  music  of  the 
pack.  The  otter  has  left  his  trail  on  the  banks,  and  on  the 
stones  where  he  has  landed  when  fishing,  his  spoor  can  be 
seen  freshly  printed  on  a  sandy  nook,  and  he  is  very  likely 
to  be  found  in  a  well-known  and  remarkably  safe  holt,  as 
they  call  it  in  the  West,  about  half  a  mile  above  Dart  Meet, 
which  he  shares  at  times  with  foxes,  though  his  access  to  it 
is  under  water,  and  theirs,  of  course,  above.  If  he  were 
but  wise  enough  to  stay  there  he  might  defy  his  legitimate 
enemies  to  do  their  worst.  But  he  knows  not  man  or  his 
little  ways,  and  he  has  heard  the  unwonted  strain  of  the 
hounds  as  they  have  been  crying  over  his  footsteps  hard 
by.  They  mark  him  in  his  retreat,  and  the  whole  pack 
proclaim  that  he  is  in  the  otter's  parlour,  the  strongest 
place  on  the  river.  It  is  in  a  large  rock  hanging  over  a 
deep,  dark  pool,  in  a  corner  made  by  a  turn  in  the  river, 
with  an  old  battered  oak  tree  growing  somehow  from  the 
midst,  and  backed  by  a  confused  jumble  of  granite  blocks. 
The  artist  and  the  fisherman  both  admire  this  spot,  though 
for  totally  different  reasons,  but  the  hunter  Hkes  it  not,  for 
he  knows  too  well  that  if  he  runs  the  fox  or  the  otter  here 
his  sport  is  over.     A  fox  or  an  otter  if  run  here  is  likely  to 


I  c  «  < 

>  t  c  c 


OTTER-HUNTING  225 

stay;  he  has  experienced  the  dangers  and  wickedness  of 
the  world  at  large;  but  if  found  here  in  his  quiet  and 
repose  he  takes  alarm  at  the  unusual  turmoil,  and  incon- 
tinently bolts.  The  otter  is  known  to  have  a  way  in  under 
water,  where  no  terrier  can  go,  and  he  is  so  far  safer  than 
the  fox.  The  most  arduous  otter-hunters,  therefore,  when 
the  hounds  mark,  plunge  up  to  their  necks  in  the  water  to 
frighten  him  out  with  their  otter-poles.  He  has  long  known 
the  Dart  as  a  quiet,  peaceable,  happy  hunting-ground ;  and 
he  makes  the  fatal  mistake  of  bolting,  little  recking  what  a 
harrying  awaits  him  for  the  next  four  hours.  There  im- 
mediately arises  a  yell  of  '  Hoo-gaze ! '  the  view  halloo  of 
the  otter-hunter,  probably  an  older  English  hunting  halloo 
than  'Tally  ho!'  and  the  din  of  the  hounds  and  terriers,  the 
human  scream,  and  the  horn,  like  Bedlam  broken  loose, 
which  he  hears  behind  him,  make  him  hurry  up-stream  as 
best  he  may.  The  master  of  the  hounds,  if  he  knows  his 
business,  will  now  call  for  silence,  and,  taking  out  his 
watch,  will  give  the  otter  what  he  calls  a  quarter  of  an 
hour's  law.  It  is  wonderful  how  fond  sportsmen  are  of 
law;  perhaps  there  is  an  affinity  between  prosecuting 
a  case  and  pursuing  a  chase.  He  wants  the  otter  to  go 
well  away  from  his  parlour,  and  his  object  for  the  rest  of 
the  day  will  be  to  keep  him  out  of  it.  If  he  is  a  real 
good  sporting  otter-hunter  he  will  tell  his  field  that  he 
wants  his  hounds  to  kill  the  otter  without  assistance  from 
them ;  for  in  the  West  of  England  the  vice  of  mobbing 
the  otter  is  too  common,  with  half  the  field  in  the  water, 
hooting,  yelling,  poking  with  otter-poles,  mixing  the  wrong 
scent  (their  own)  with  the  right,  making  the  water  muddy, 
and  turning  the  river  into  a  brawling  brook  with  a  ven- 
geance. The  true  otter-hunter  only  wants  his  huntsman 
and  whip,  and  perhaps  a  very  knowing  and  trustworthy 
friend,  besides  himself,  to  help  in  hunting  the  otter  with 

Q 


226  YELVERTON 

his  hounds^  and  not  with  men.  The  master  gives  the  chase 
a  good  quarter  of  an  hour  by  the  clock ;  and,  leaving  the 
unearthly,  or  perhaps  too  earthly  sounds  behind  him,  the 
otter  makes  up-stream  as  fast  as  he  can  go.  It  is  surprising 
how  far  an  otter  can  get  in  the  time,  but  fear  lends  speed 
to  his  feet.  Then  begins  the  prettiest  part  of  the  sport. 
The  hounds  are  laid  on,  they  dash  into  the  river,  and 
instantly  open  in  full  cry.  The  water  teems  with  the  scent 
of  the  otter ;  but  the  deep  pools,  rapid  stickles,  and  rocky 
boulders  over  which  the  river  foams  hinder  the  pace.  There 
is  ample  time  to  admire  the  spirit-stirring  and  beautiful 
scene.  The  whole  pack  swimming  a  black-looking  pool 
under  a  beetling  tor  in  full  chorus;  now  and  then  an  en- 
couraging note  on  the  horn ;  the  echoes  of  the  deep  valley; 
the  foaming  and  roaring  Dart  flowing  down  from  above; 
the  rich  colour  from  the  fern,  the  gorse,  the  heather,  the 
moss,  and  the  wild  flowers ;  a  few  scattered  weather-beaten 
oaks  and  fir  trees,  and  the  stately  tors  aloft,  striking  on  the 
eye  and  ear,  make  one  feel  that  otter-hunting  on  Dartmoor 
is  indeed  a  sport. 

"  The  Dart  is  a  large  river,  for  a  Dartmoor  stream,  and 
presents  many  obstacles  to  the  hounds;  but  they  pursue 
the  chase  for  some  distance,  and  at  length  stop  and  mark, 
as  they  did  before.  The  otter  has  got  out  of  hearing,  and 
has  rested  in  a  lair  known  to  him  under  the  river-bank. 
The  terriers  and  an  otter-pole  dislodge  him,  and  the  sport 
becomes  fast  and  furious.  He  is  seen  in  all  directions, 
sometimes  apparently  in  two  places  at  once,  which  makes 
the  novice  think  there  are  two  or  three  otters  afoot. 
'  Hoo-gaze ! '  is  now  often  heard,  as  one  or  another 
catches  sight  of  him,  and  the  field  become  very  noisy 
and  excited.  It  is  still  the  object  to  run  him  up-stream, 
whilst  he  now  finds  it  easier  to  swim  down.  'Look  out 
below ! '  is  therefore  heard  in  the  fine  voice  of  the  master. 


OTTER-HUNTING  227 

There  is  a  trusty  person  down-stream  watching  a  shallow 
stickle,  where  the  otter  must  be  seen  if  he  passes.  Sud- 
denly the  clamour  ceases,  and  silence  prevails.  The  otter 
has  mysteriously  disappeared,  and  he  has  to  be  fresh  found. 
The  master  is  in  no  hurry.  There  is  too  much  scent  in 
the  water  of  various  sorts,  and  he  will  be  glad  to  pause 
till  it  has  floated  away.  He  takes  his  hounds  down-stream. 
The  trusty  man  says  the  otter  has  not  passed;  but  this 
makes  no  difference.  Some  way  further  down,  with  a 
wave  of  his  hand,  he  sends  all  the  hounds  into  the  river 
again  with  a  dash.  They  draw  up-stream  again,  pass  the 
trusty  man  still  at  his  post,  and  reach  the  spot  where  the 
otter  vanished.  The  river  is  beautifully  clear  again,  and 
an  old  hound  marks.  A  good  hour,  perhaps,  has  been  lost, 
or  rather  spent,  since  the  otter  disappeared,  and  here  he 
has  been  in  one  of  his  under-water  dry  beds.  He  is 
routed  out  by  otter-poles,  and  liveliness  again  prevails, 
especially  when  he  takes  to  the  land  to  get  down-stream 
by  cutting  off  a  sharp  curve  in  the  river — a  way  he  has 
learnt  in  his  frogging  expeditions — and  the  hounds  run  him 
then  like  a  fox.  He  is  only  too  glad  to  plunge  headlong 
into  the  river  again,  and  he  has  reached  it  below  the  trusty 
man,  who,  however,  goes  down  to  the  next  shallow,  and 
takes  with  him  some  others  to  turn  the  otter  up  from  his 
safe  parlour.  They  are  hunting  him  now  in  a  long  deep 
pool,  where  he  shifts  from  bank  to  bank,  moving  under 
water  whilst  the  hounds  swim  above.  He  has  a  large 
supply  of  air  in  his  lungs,  which  he  vents  as  he  uses  it, 
and  which  floats  to  the  surface  in  a  series  of  bubbles. 
Otter-hunters  calls  it  his  chain,  and  it  follows  him  wherever 
he  goes,  betraying  his  track  in  the  muddiest  water.  He 
craftily  puts  his  nose,  his  nose  only,  up  to  get  a  fresh 
supply  of  air  now  and  then,  under  a  bush  or  behind  a 
rock,  and  then  owners  of  sharp  eyes  call  '  Hoo-gaze ! '     He 


228  YELVERTON 

finds  himself  in  desperate  straits,  and  he  makes  up  his 
mind  to  go  for  his  parlour  at  all  hazards ;  but  the  hounds 
catch  sight  of  him  in  the  shallow  of  the  trusty  man,  and 
the  chase  comes  to  an  end.  Otters  are  never  speared  in 
the  West."  * 

And  now  to  return  to  SheepsTor  and  the  picturesque 
village  that  nestles  under  it. 

The  one  building-stone  is  granite,  grey  and  soft 
of  tone.  The  village  is  small,  and  consists  of  a  few- 
cottages  about  the  open  space  before  the  church. 

This  latter  is  of  the  usual  moorland  type,  and  in 
the  Perpendicular  style.  Observe  above  the  porch 
the  curious  carved  stone,  formerly  forming  part  of  a 
sun-dial,  and  dated  1640.  It  represents  wheat  grow- 
ing out  of  a  skull,  and  bears  the  inscription — 
"  Mors  janua  vitae." 

This  church  has  most  unfortunately  been  vulgarised 
internally.  It  once  possessed  not  only  a  magnificent 
roodscreen,  rich  with  gold  and  colour,  but  also  a 
fifteenth- century  carved  pulpit  that  matched  with 
the  screen.  The  church  was  delivered  over  to  a 
Tavistock  builder  to  make  watertight,  as  cheaply 
as  might  be,  and  he  succeeded  triumphantly  in 
transforming  what  was  once  a  treasury  of  art  into 
a  desolation.  A  few  poor  fragments  of  the  screen 
have  been  set  up  in  the  church  by  the  vicar,  with 
an  appeal  to  visitors  to  do  something  to  obliterate 
the  infamy  of  its  destruction  by  a  restoration  out 
of  what  little   remains.     Most  fortunately,  working 

*  Slightly  curtailed  from  W.  F.  Collier,  Country  Matters  in  Short, 
Duckworth,  London,  1899. 


Rgdd  Screen*  5hee:pstor  Cmurcm-j- 
->  South  Devon  » 


^^^^f^sagi^st'jr.v  'r^^ytf(^ 


f\AUr    SHEWING    SCKEEN  "IS  HALF   5HEW|r)C 

EXISTING    FREVIOI'3    To   ITS   DEMOUTION  .  CONJECTl'tVU-    RESTOfyVTlON . 


PORTION   OF  SCREEN,  SHEEPS  TOR 


9    »        J        • 


SHEEPS   TOR   CHURCH         229 

drawings  were  taken  of  the  screen  before  its  destruc- 
tion. I  give  not  only  a  drawing  to  scale  of  a  bay  as 
it  was,  but  also  of  a  bay  as  it  should  be  if  restored,  for 
the  vaulting  had  disappeared  before  its  final  ruin  and 
removal.  Near  the  church  stood  formerly  the  old 
vicarage,  a  mediaeval  dwelling,  intact,  with  its  oak, 
nail-studded  door  and  its  panelled  walls.  This  also 
has  been  destroyed. 

What  of  old  times  still  remains  is  the  bull-ring  to 
the  south-east  of  the  church.  On  the  churchyard 
wall  sat  the  principal  parishioners,  as  in  a  dress  circle. 
Near  by  is  S.  Leonard's  Well,  but  it  possesses  no 
architectural  interest. 

In  Burra  Tor  Wood  is  a  pretty  waterfall.  Burra  Tor 
was  the  residence  of  Rajah  Brooke  when  in  England. 
It  had  been  presented  to  him  by  the  Baroness 
Burdett  Coutts  and  other  admirers.  In  Sheeps  Tor 
churchyard  he  lies,  but  Burra  Tor  has  been  sold  since 
his  death. 

Above  the  wood  stands  Roman's  Cross,  probably 
called  after  S.  Rumon  or  Ruan,  whose  body  lay  at 
Tavistock.  There  is  another  Rumon's  Cross  on  Lee 
Moor. 

The  drive  from  Douseland  round  Yennadon,  above 
the  dam  and  the  reservoir,  to  Sheeps  Tor  village, 
is  hardly  to  be  surpassed  for  beauty  anywhere  on 
the  moor. 

A  walk  that  will  richly  repay  the  pedestrian  is 
one  up  the  valley  of  the  Narra  Tor  Brook,  between 
Sheeps  Tor  and  Down  Tor.  He  follows  the  Devon- 
port  leat  till  he  reaches  the  turn  on  the  right  to 
Nosworthy  Bridge.      He  passes  Vinneylake,  where 


230  YELVERTON 

are  two  interesting  caches,  one  cut  out  of  the  con- 
glomerate rubble  brought  down  from  the  decomposed 
rocks  above.  This  is  now  used  as  a  turnip-house,  but 
it  is  to  be  suspected  it  was  anciently  employed  as  a 
private  still-house.  In  a  field  hard  by  is  another, 
more  like  some  of  the  Cornish  structural  fogous.  It 
is  roofed  over  with  slabs  of  granite. 

The  ascent  of  Deancombe  presents  many  peeps  of 
great  beauty.  At  the  farm  the  road  comes  to  an 
end,  and  here  the  tor  must  be  ascended.  East  of 
Down  Tor  is  a  very  fine  stone  row,  starting  from  a 
circle  of  stones  inclosing  a  cairn,  and  extending  in 
the  direction  of  a  large,  much-disturbed  cairn.  There 
is  a  blocking-stone  at  the  eastern  end,  and  a  menhir 
by  the  ring  of  stones  at  the  west  end  of  the  row. 
The  length  is  1,175  feet. 

I  visited  this  row  with  the  late  Mr.  Lukis  in  1880, 
when  we  found  that  men  had  been  recently  engaged 
on  the  row  with  crowbars.  They  had  thrown  down 
the  two  largest  stones  at  the  head.  We  appealed  to 
Sir  Massey  Lopes,  and  he  stopped  the  destruction  of 
the  monument,  and  since  then  Mr.  R.  Burnard  and  I 
have  re-erected  the  stones  then  thrown  down. 

On  the  slope  of  Coombshead  Tor  are  numerous 
hut  circles  and  a  pound. 

From  the  stone  row  a  walk  along  the  ridge  of  the 
moor  leads  to  Nun's  Cross.  This  bore  on  it  the 
inscription,  "CRUX  SIWARDI."  It  is  very  rude;  it 
stands  7  feet  4  inches  high,  and  is  fixed  in  a  socket 
cut  in  a  block  of  stone  sunk  in  the  ground.  It  was 
overthrown  and  broken  about  1846,  but  was  restored 
by  the  late  Sir  Ralph  Lopes.    By  whom  and  for  what 


tec  4    t    C 


ROUNDY   FARM  231 

cause  it  was  overthrown  never  transpired.  The  in- 
scription with  the  name  of  Siward  is  now  difficult 
to  decipher.  On  the  other  side  of  the  cross  is 
"BOC— LOND  " — three  letters  forming  one  line,  and  the 
remaining  four  another,  directly  under  it.  The  cross 
is  alluded  to  in  a  deed  of  1240  as  then  standing. 

Nun's  Cross  is  probably  a  corruption  of  Nant 
Cross,  the  cross  at  the  head  of  the  nant  or  valley. 
The  whole  of  Newleycombe  Lake  has  been  extensively 
streamed.  The  hill  to  the  north  is  dense  with  relics 
of  an  ancient  people.  Roundy  Farm,  now  in  ruins, 
takes  its  name  from  the  pounds  which  contributed 
to  form  the  walls  of  its  inclosures,  many  of  which 
follow  the  old  circular  erections  that  once  inclosed 
a  primeval  village.  The  ruined  farmhouse  bears  the 
initials  of  a  Crymes,  a  family  once  as  great  as  that  of 
the  Elfords,  but  now  gone.  It  is  interesting  to  know 
that  the  farmer's  wife  of  Kingset,  that  now  includes 
Roundy  Farm,  was  herself  a  Crymes.  One  very 
perfect  hut  circle  here  was  for  long  used  as  a  potato 
garden. 

Hard  by  is  Clakeywell  Pool,  by  some  called  Crazy- 
well.  It  is  an  old  mine- work,  now  filled  with  water. 
It  covers  nearly  an  acre,  and  the  banks  are  in  part 
a  hundred  feet  high.  According  to  popular  belief, 
at  certain  times  at  night  a  loud  voice  is  heard  calling 
from  the  water  in  articulate  tones,  naming  the  next 
person  who  is  to  die  in  the  parish.  At  other  times 
what  are  heard  are  howls  as  of  a  spirit  in  torment. 
The  sounds  are  doubtless  caused  by  a  swirl  of  wind 
in  the  basin  that  contains  the  pond.  An  old  lady, 
now   deceased,   told    me   how   that   as   a    child    she 


/  > 


232  YELVERTON 

dreaded  going  near  this  tarn — she  Hved  at  Shaugh — 
fearing  lest  she  should  hear  the  voice  calling  her  by- 
name. 

The  idea  of  mysterious  voices  is  a  very  old  one. 
The  schoolboy  will  recall  the  words  of  Virgil  in  the 
first  Georgic: — 

"  Vox  .  .  .  per  lucos  vulgo  exaudita  silentes 
Ingens." 

The  "wisht  hounds"  that  sweep  overhead  in  the 
dark  barking  are  brentgeese  going  north  or  returning 
south.  They  have  given  occasion  to  many  stories 
of  strange  voices  in  the  sky. 

In  Ceylon  the  devil-bird  has  been  the  source  of 
much  superstitious  terror. 

A  friend  who  has  long  lived  in  Ceylon  says : 
"  Never  shall  I  forget  when  first  1  heard  it.  I  was 
at  dinner,  when  suddenly  the  wildest,  most  agonised 
shrieks  pierced  my  ear.  I  was  under  the  impression 
that  a  woman  was  being  murdered  outside  my  house. 
I  snatched  up  a  cudgel  and  ran  forth  to  her  aid, 
but  saw  no  one."  The  natives  regard  this  cry  of 
the  mysterious  devil -bird  with  the  utmost  fear. 
They  believe  that  to  hear  it  is  a  sure  presage  of 
death ;  and  they  are  not  wrong.  When  they  have 
heard  it,  they  pine  to  death,  killed  by  their  own  con- 
viction that  life  is  impossible. 

Autenrieth,  professor  and  physician  at  Tubingen, 
in  1822  published  a  treatise  on  Aerial  Voices^  in 
which  he  collected  a  number  of  strange  accounts  of 
mysterious  sounds  heard  in  the  sky,  and  which  he 


STRANGE   VOICES  233 

thought  could  not  all  be  deduced  from  the  cries  of 
birds  at  night.     He  thus  generalises  the  sounds  : — 

"  They  are  heard  sometimes  flying  in  this  direction,  then 
in  the  opposite  through  the  air ;  mostly,  they  are  heard  as 
though  coming  down  out  of  the  sky ;  but  at  other  times  as 
if  rising  from  the  ground.  They  resemble  occasionally 
various  musical  instruments ;  occasionally  also  the  clash  of 
arms,  or  the  rattle  of  drums,  or  the  blare  of  trumpets. 
Sometimes  they  are  like  the  tramp  of  horses,  or  the  dis- 
charge of  distant  artillery.  But  sometimes,  also,  they  con- 
sist in  an  indescribably  hollow,  thrilling,  sudden  scream. 
Very  commonly  they  resemble  all  kinds  of  animal  tones, 
mostly  the  barking  of  dogs.  Quite  as  often  they  consist 
in  a  loud  call,  so  that  the  startled  hearer  believes  himself 
to  be  called  by  name,  and  to  hear  articulate  words  ad- 
dressed to  him.  In  some  instances,  Greeks  have  believed 
they  were  spoken  to  in  the  language  of  Hellas,  whereas 
Romans  supposed  they  were  addressed  in  Latin.  The 
modern  Highlanders  distinctly  hear  their  vernacular  Gaelic. 
These  aerial  voices  accordingly  are  so  various  that  they 
can  be  interpreted  differently,  according  to  the  language 
of  the  hearer,  or  his  inner  conception  of  what  they  might 
say." 

The  Jews  call  the  mysterious  voice  that  falls  from 
the  heaven  Bathkol,  and  have  many  traditions  rela- 
tive to  it.  The  sound  of  arms  and  of  drums  and 
artillery  may  safely  be  set  down  to  the  real  vibrations 
of  arms,  drums,  and  artillery  at  a  great  distance, 
carried  by  the  wind. 

In  the  desert  of  Gobi,  which  divides  the  moun- 
tainous snow-clad  plateau  of  Thibet  from  the  milder 
regions  of  Asia,  travellers  assert  that  they  have  heard 


234  YELVERTON 

sounds  high  up  in  the  sky  as  of  the  clash  of  arms  or 
of  musical  martial  instruments.  If  travellers  fall  to 
the  rear  or  get  separated  from  the  caravan,  they  hear 
themselves  called  by  name.  If  they  go  after  the 
voice  that  summons  them,  they  lose  themselves  in 
the  desert.  Sometimes  they  hear  the  tramp  of 
horses,  and  taking  it  for  that  of  their  caravan,  are 
drawn  av^ay,  and  wander  from  the  right  course  and 
become  hopelessly  lost.  The  old  Venetian  traveller 
Marco  Polo  mentions  these  mysterious  sounds,  and 
says  that  they  are  produced  by  the  spirits  that  haunt 
the  desert.  They  are,  however,  otherwise  explicable. 
On  a  vast  plain  the  ear  loses  the  faculty  of  judging 
direction  and  distance  of  sounds ;  it  fails  to  possess, 
so  to  speak,  acoustic  perspective.  When  a  man  has 
dropped  away  from  the  caravan,  his  comrades  call  to 
him  ;  but  he  cannot  distinguish  the  direction  whence 
their  voices  come,  and  he  goes  astray  after  them. 

Rubruquis,  whom  Louis  IX.  sent  in  1253  to  the. 
court  of  Mongu-Khan,  the  Mongol  chief,  says  that 
in  the  Altai  Mountains,  that  fringe  the  desert  of  Gobi, 
demons  try  to  lure  travellers  astray.  As  he  was 
riding  among  them  one  evening  with  his  Mongol 
guide,  he  was  exhorted  by  the  latter  to  pray,  because 
otherwise  mishaps  might  occur  through  the  demons 
that  haunted  the  mountains  luring  them  out  of  the 
right  road. 

Morier,  the  Persian  traveller,  at  the  beginning  of 
this  century  speaks  of  the  salt  desert  near  Khom. 
On  it,  he  says,  travellers  are  led  astray  by  the  cry 
of  the  goblin  Ghul,  who,  when  he  has  enticed  them 
from  the  road,  rends  them  with  his  claws.     Russian 


STRANGE   VOICES  235 

accounts  of  Kiev  in  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century  mention  an  island  lying  in  a  salt  marsh  be- 
tween the  Caspian  and  the  Aral  Sea,  where,  in  the 
evening,  loud  sounds  are  heard  like  the  baying  of 
hounds,  and  hideous  cries  as  well ;  consequently  the 
island  is  reputed  to  be  haunted,  and  no  one  ventures 
near  it. 

That  the  Irish  banshee  may  be  traced  to  an  owl 
admits  of  little  doubt ;  the  description  of  the  cries 
so  closely  resembles  what  is  familiar  to  those  who 
live  in  an  owl-haunted  district,  as  to  make  the 
identification  all  but  certain.  Owls  are  capricious 
birds.  One  can  never  calculate  on  them  for  hooting. 
Weeks  will  elapse  without  their  letting  their  notes 
be  heard,  and  then  all  at  once  for  a  night  or  two  they 
will  be  audible,  and  again  become  silent — even  for 
months. 

The  river  Dart  is  said  to  cry.  The  sound  is  a 
peculiarly  weird  one ;  it  is  heard  only  when  the 
wind  is  blowing  down  its  deep  valley,  and  is  pro- 
duced by  the  compression  of  the  air  in  the  wind- 
ing passage.  Whether  it  is  calling  for  its  annual 
tribute  of  a  human  life,  I  do  not  know,  but  of  the 
river  it  is  said  : — 

"The  Dart,  the  Dart— the  cruel  Dart 
Every  year  demands  a  heart ! " 

To  return  to  our  walk. 

If  the  path  be  taken  leading  back  to  Nosworthy 
Bridge,  beside  and  in  the  road  will  be  seen  several 
mould-stones  for  tin. 

Leather  Tor  is  a  fine  pile  of  ruined  granite.     I 


236  YELVERTON 

have  been  informed  that  great  quantities  of  flints 
have  been  found  there,  showing  that  at  this  spot 
there  was  a  manufacturing  of  silex  weapons  and 
tools. 

From  Sheeps  Tor  the  Drizzlecombe  remains  are 
reached  with  great  ease.  Here,  near  a  tributary 
of  the  Plym,  are  three  stone  rows  and  two  fine 
menhirs,  a  kistvaen,  a  large  tumulus,  and  beside 
the  stream  a  blowing-house  with  its  mould-stones. 
Two  of  the  rows  are  single,  but  one  is  double  for 
a  portion  of  its  length  only.  There  are  blocking- 
stones  and  menhirs  to  each.  The  row  connected 
with  the  great  menhir  is  260  feet  long. 

Sheeps  Tor  has  been  brought  into  the  world  by 
the  construction  of  the  reservoir.  Formerly  it  was 
a  place  very  much  left  to  itself.  There  the  old 
fiddler  hung  on  who  played  venerable  tunes,  to 
which  the  people  danced  their  old  country  dances. 
These  latter  may  still  be  seen  there,  but,  alas !  the 
aged  fiddler  is  dead.  At  one  time  it  was  a  great 
musical  centre,  and  it  was  asserted  that  two-thirds 
of  the  male  population  were  in  the  church  choir, 
acting  either  as  singers  or  as  instrumentalists. 

We  will  now  turn  our  steps  towards  Meavy. 

Here  is  a  house  that  belonged  to  the  Drake  family, 
half  pulled  down,  a  village  cross  under  a  very  ancient 
oak,  and  a  church  in  good  condition. 

There  is  some  very  early  rude  carving  at  the 
chancel  arch  in  a  pink  stone,  whence  derived  has 
not  been  ascertained. 

Marchant's  Cross  is  at  the  foot  of  the  steep  ascent 
to   Ringmoor   Down.     It   is   the   tallest   of   all    the 


WILLIAM   COOKWORTHY      237 

moor  crosses,  being  no  less  than  8  feet  2  inches 
in  height. 

Another  cross  is  in  the  hedge  on  Lynch  Common. 

Trowlesworthy  Warren  is  situated  among  hut 
circles  and  inclosures.  There  is  a  double  stone 
row  on  the  southern  slope,  but  it  has  been   sadly 


CHANCEL  CAPITAL,    MEAVY. 


mutilated.  The  whole  of  the  neighbouring  moors  are 
strewn  with  primeval  habitations. 

On  Lee  Moor  and  Headon  Down  may  be  seen  the 
production  of  kaolin. 

William  Cook  worthy,  born  at  Kingsbridge  in 
Devon,  in  1705,  was  one  of  a  large  family.  His 
father  lost  all  his  property  in  South  Sea  stock, 
and   died   leaving   his   widow   to   rear   the   children 


238  YELVERTON 

as  best  she  might.  They  were  Quakers,  and  help 
was  forthcoming  from  the  Friends.  William  kept 
his  eyes  about  him,  and  discovered  the  china-clay 
which  is  found  to  so  large  an  extent  in  Devon 
and  Cornwall,  and  he  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
kaolin  trade  between  1745  and  1750.  One  of  the 
first  places  where  he  identified  the  clay  was  on 
Tregonning  Hill  in  S.  Breage  parish,  Cornwall, 
and  to  his  dying  day  he  was  unaware  of  the 
enormous  deposits  on  Lee  Moor  close  to  his  Ply- 
mouth home. 

He  took  out  a  patent  in  1768  for  the  manufacture 
of  Plymouth  china,  specimens  of  which  are  now 
eagerly  sought  after. 

Kaolin  is  dissolved  feldspar,  deposited  from  the 
granite  which  has  yielded  to  atmospheric  and 
aqueous  influences. 

The  white  clay  is  dug  out  of  pits  and  then  is 
washed  in  tanks,  in  which  the  clayey  sediment  is 
collected.  This  sediment  has,  however,  first  to  be 
purged  of  much  of  its  mica  and  coarser  particles 
as  the  stream  in  which  it  is  dissolved  is  conveyed 
slowly  over  shallow  "launders." 

At  the  bottom  of  the  pits  are  plugs,  and  so  soon 
as  the  settled  kaolin  is  sufficiently  thick,  these  plugs 
are  withdrawn,  and  the  clay,  now  of  the  consistency 
of  treacle,  is  allowed  to  flow  into  tanks  at  a  lower 
level.  Here  it  remains  for  three  weeks  or  a  month 
to  thicken,  when  it  is  transferred  to  the  "dry,"  a 
long  shed  with  a  well-ventilated  roof,  and  with  a  fur- 
nace at  one  end  and  flues  connected  with  it  that 
traverse  the  whole  "dry"  and  discharge  into  a  chimney 


CHINA-CLAY  239 

at  the  further  end  of  the  building.  On  the  floor  of  this 
shed  the  clay  rapidly  dries,  and  it  is  then  removed 
in  spadefuls  and  packed  in  barrels  or  bags,  or  merely 
tossed  into  trucks  for  lading  vessels.  The  clay  is 
now  white  as  snow,  and  is  employed  either  in  the 
Staffordshire  potteries  for  the  manufacture  of  porce- 
lain, or  else  for  bleaching — that  is  to  say,  for 
thickening  calicoes,  and  for  putting  a  surface  on 
paper.  Some  is  employed  in  the  manufacture  of 
alum  ;  a  good  deal  goes  to  Paris  to  be  served  up  as 
the  white  sugar  of  confectionery,  and  it  is  hinted  that 
not  a  little  is  employed  in  the  adulteration  of  flour. 
America,  as  well,  imports  it  for  the  manufacture  of 
artificial  teeth. 

Great  heaps  of  white  refuse  will  be  seen  about  the 
china-clay  works  ;  these  are  composed  of  the  granitic 
sandy  residuum.  Of  this  there  are  several  qualities, 
and  it  is  sold  to  plasterers  and  masons,  and  the 
coarsest  is  gladly  purchased  for  gravelling  garden 
walks.  The  water  that  flows  from  the  clay  works 
is  white  as  milk,  and  has  a  peculiar  sweet  taste. 
Cows  are  said  to  drink  it  with  avidity.  The  full 
pans  in  drying  present  a  metallic  blue  or  green  glaze 
on  the  surface. 

The  kaolin  sent  to  Staffordshire  travels  by  boat 
from  Plymouth  to  Runcorn,  where  it  is  transhipped 
on  to  barges  on  the  Bridgewater  Canal,  and  is  so 
conveyed  to  the  belt  of  pottery  towns,  Burslem, 
Hanley,  Stoke,  and  Longton. 

The  Dewerstone  towers  up  at  the  junction  of  the 
Meavy  and  the  Plym.  On  the  side  of  the  Plym 
there  are  sheer  precipices  of  granite  standing  up  as 


240  YELVERTON 

church  spires  above  the  brawling  river.  The  face 
towards  the  Meavy  is  less  abrupt,  and  it  is  on  this 
side  that  an  ascent  can  be  nnade,  but  it  is  a  scramble. 

On  reaching  the  top,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
headland  has  been  fortified  by  a  double  rampart 
of  stone  thrown  across  the  neck  of  land.  Wigford 
Down  is  in  the  rear,  with  kistvaens  and  tumuli  and 
hut  circles  on  it. 

The  visitor  should  descend  in  the  direction  of 
Goodameavy,  and  thence  follow  down  the  river  that 
abounds  in  beautiful  scenes.  It  was  formerly  believed 
that  a  wild  hunter  appeared  on  the  summit  of  Dewer- 
stone,  attended  by  his  black  dogs,  blowing  a  horn. 
From  Dewerstone  the  visitor  may  walk  to  Bickleigh 
Station,  and  take  the  train  for  Tavistock,  which  I  have 
written  about  in  my  Book  of  the  West,  and  will  not 
re-describe  in  the  present  work. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
POST    BRIDGE 

A  filled-up  lake-bed — Stannon — The  great  central  trackway — De- 
struction of  monuments — Cyclopean  bridge — Blowing  -  house  — 
Another  up  the  river — Cut  Hill — The  Jack-o'-lantern — The  maid 
and  the  lantern — Gathering  lichens — Dyes — The  coral  moss— Birds 
— The  cuckoo — The  wren— Rooks  and  daddy  longlegs — The  Lych 
Way — Believer  Tor. 

A  COLONY   about   a  school-chapel    and   a    few 
deformed   beech   trees  in  a  basin  among  tors 
constitute  Post  Bridge. 

Here  the  East  Dart  flows  through  a  filled-up  lake- 
bed,  and  passes  away  by  a  narrow  cleft  that  it  has 
sawn  for  itself  through  the  granite. 

The  beech  trees  were  planted  at  the  same  time 
that  two  lodges  were  erected  by  a  gentleman  called 
Hullett,  who  was  induced  to  believe  that  he  could 
convert  a  portion  of  Dartmoor  into  paradise.  He 
purposed  building  a  mansion  at  Stannon,  and  actually 
began  the  house.  But  by  the  time  the  lodges  were 
set  up  and  a  wing  of  his  house,  he  had  discovered 
that  Dartmoor  would  spell  ruin,  and  he  threw  up 
his  attempt.  And  Dartmoor  will  spell  ruin  unless 
approached  and  treated  in  the  only  suitable  manner. 
It  will  pasture  cattle  and  feed  ponies  and  sheep,  but 
it  will  never  grow  corn  and  roots. 
R  241 


242  POST    BRIDGE 

The  great  central  causeway  crossed  the  modern  road 
near  the  Dissenting  chapel,  and  may  be  traced  in  the 
marsh  aiming  for  the  river,  beyond  which  it  ascends 
the  hill  and  strikes  along  the  brow  behind  Archerton. 
It  is  paved,  and  is  a  continuation  of  the  old  Fosse 
Way.     It  is  certainly  not  Roman  work,  but  British. 

Post  Bridge  has  been  termed,  not  accurately,  a 
prehistoric  metropolis  of  the  moor.  This  is  because 
round  the  ancient  lake-bed  were  numerous  pounds 
containing  hut  circles.  Most  of  these  have  now  been 
destroyed,  yet  one  remains  perfect — Broadun ;  and 
adjoining  it  is  Broadun  Ring,  where  the  outer  circle 
of  the  inclosure  has  been  pulled  down,  but  a  con- 
siderable number  of  the  huts  has  been  spared. 
There  remain  indications  of  fifteen  of  these  in- 
closures.     More  have  certainly  been  destroyed. 

Lake-head  Hill  has  been  almost  denuded  of  the 
monuments  that  once  crowded  it.  They  were 
systematically  removed  by  the  farmer  at  Believer. 
Happily  one  kistvaen  has  been  left  on  the  summit, 
and  there  are  two  or  three  others,  small  and  ruinous, 
on  the  sides. 

The  "Cyclopean  bridge"  over  the  Dart  is  com- 
posed of  rude  masses  of  granite  maintained  in 
position  by  their  own  weight.  It  was  the  old  pack- 
horse  bridge. 

There  are  other  bridges  of  the  same  description  ; 
one  is  on  the  stream  at  Believer,  one  under  Bairdown. 
But  a  structure  of  this  sort  is  the  simplest  and  most 
easily  reared  on  Dartmoor,  where  lime  is  not  found, 
and  has  to  be  brought  at  great  expense  from  a 
distance. 


A  BLOWING-HOUSE  243 

Great  numbers  of  worked  flints  are  found  in  this 
neighbourhood,  and  a  bronze  ferrule  to  a  spear  was 
dug  up  a  few  years  ago  in  Gawlor  Bottom. 

A  Httle  way,  but  a  few  steps  below  the  bridge,  on 
the  west  side,  is  a  comparatively  modern  blowing- 
house  ;  two  mould-stones  for  tin  may  be  seen  there 
lying  among  the  nettles.  This  house  is  built  with 
mortar  and  is  of  considerable  size,  whereas  the 
ancient  blowing-houses  are  very  small,  and  no  lime 
has  been  employed  in  their  construction.  One  of 
these  with  a  cache  may  be  found  in  the  midst  of  the 
tinners'  heaps  if  the  Dart  be  followed  up  to  where  it 
makes  a  sudden  bend  and  comes  from  the  east. 
Here  a  tongue  of  hill  stands  out  above  it,  and  a 
stream  sweeps  down  from  the  north  to  join  it.  A 
very  short  distance  up  this  stream  is  the  blowing- 
house  with  a  beehive  cache. 

If  this  stream  be  pursued,  and  Sittaford  Tor  be 
aimed  at,  then  a  few  hundred  yards  to  the  right  of 
the  tor  the  Grey  Wethers  will  be  found,  two  very  fine 
circles  in  contact  with  one  another ;  but  the  stones  of 
one  are  nearly  all  down. 

If  the  Ordnance  Sheet  XCIX.,  N.W.,  be  taken, 
and  the  ridge  followed  north-west  along  the  line 
indicated  by  bench-marks.  Cut  Hill  will  finally  be 
attained,  which  is  all  bog,  but  which  has  a  gash  cut 
in  it  to  afford  a  passage  through  the  moors  from 
Okehampton  to  Post  Bridge.  This  expedition  will 
take  the  visitor  into  some  of  the  wildest  and  most 
desolate  portions  of  the  northern  half  of  Dartmoor. 

Many  years  ago  the  question  was  mooted  in,  I 
think,  the  Times^  whether  there  were  really  such 
things  as  Jack-o'-lanterns. 


244  POST    BRIDGE 

Few  instances  can  be  recorded  where  this  ignis 
fatuus  has  been  seen  on  Dartmoor,  probably  because 
so  few  cattle  are  lost  in  the  bogs  there.  I  was  told 
by  a  man  accustomed  to  draw  turf,  that  he  has  seen 
the  legs  and  belly  of  the  horse  as  though  on  fire, 
where  it  had  been  splashed  by  the  peat  water. 

I  walked  one  night  from  Plymouth  to  Tavistock 
across  Roborough  Down,  before  it  was  inclosed  and 
built  upon,  and  I  then  saw  a  little  blue  flame  dancing 
on  a  pool.  I  went  on  my  knees  and  crept  close  to  it, 
to  make  quite  sure  what  it  was,  and  that  it  was  not 
a  glow-worm. 

Mr.  Coaker,  of  Sherberton,  informs  me  that  he  has 
on  several  occasions  seen  the  Jack-o'-lantern.  There 
is  a  bit  of  marshy  land  where  rises  Muddy  Lake, 
near  the  road  from  Princetown  to  Ashburton,  and 
he  has  seen  it  there.  Sometimes,  according  to  his 
account,  it  appears  like  the  flash  of  a  lantern,  and 
then  disappears,  and  presently  flashes  again.  It  has 
also  been  seen  by  him  in  the  boggy  ground  of  Slade 
by  Huccaby  Bridge.  There,  on  one  occasion,  he 
made  his  way  towards  it.  From  a  distance  the  light 
seemed  to  be  considerable,  but  as  he  approached  it 
appeared  only  as  a  small  flame. 

The  Rev.  T.  E.  Fox,  curate,  living  at  Post  Bridge, 
and  serving  the  little  chapel  there  and  that  at 
Huccaby,  has  also  seen  it,  in  Brimpts,  hovering,  a 
greenish-blue  flame,  about  three  feet  above  the  soil ; 
and  a  woman  living  near  informs  me  that  she  also 
has  noticed  it  in  the  same  place.* 

*  I  have  been  informed  that  the  Jack-o'-lantern  is  only  to  be  seen 
after  a  hot  summer,  at  the  end  of  July,  and  in  August  and  September. 
As  the  moormen  say,  "When  the  vaen  rises,"  i.e.  when  there  is 
fermentation  going  on  in  the  fen  or  vaen. 


J    >  3    i    3 

>    >    '^ 
1   J    >    >    J 


THE    JACK-O'-LANTERN         245 

The  reader  must  excuse  me  if  I  tell  the  tales  just 
as  told  to  me,  and  mix  up  facts  with  what  I  consider 
fictions.  I  cannot  doubt  that  these  lights  have  been 
seen  by  others  as  well  as  by  myself,  and  I  am  not 
surprised  if  here  and  there  some  superstition  has 
attached  itself  to  these  phenomena. 

The  following  story  is  told  in  the  parish  of  Broad- 
woodwidger,  where  is  a  field  in  which,  it  is  asserted. 
Will-o'-the-wisp  is  seen. 

The  farmer's  son  was  delicate,  and  in  haymaking 
time  assisted  in  the  work,  and  I  have  no  doubt, 
notwithstanding  his  feeble  lungs,  in  making  sweet 
hay  with  the  maidens.  However,  he  over-exerted 
himself,  broke  a  blood-vessel,  and  died.  Ever  since 
a  blue  flame  has  been  seen  dancing  in  this  field,  and 
even  on  the  top  of  the  haycocks. 

The  tale  I  have  heard  told,  as  a  child,  of  a  blue 
flame  being  seen  leaving  the  churchyard  and  travel- 
ling down  the  lanes  or  roads  to  a  certain  door,  and 
there  waiting  and  returning  accompanied  by  another 
flame,  which  appeared  simultaneously  with  a  death 
occurring  in  the  house,  is  doubtless  a  distortion  of  a 
fact  that  such  a  flame  as  the  Jack-o'-lantern  does 
occasionally  appear  in  graveyards. 

A  miner  engaged  at  the  Whiteworks  crossed  the 
moor  on  a  Saturday  to  Cornwood,  to  see  a  brother 
who  was  dangerously  ill,  and  started  to  return  some- 
what late  on  the  Sunday  afternoon.  In  consequence, 
night  overtook  him  on  the  moor ;  he  became 
entangled  among  the  bogs,  and  was  in  sore  distress, 
unable  to  proceed  or  to  retreat. 

Being  an  eminently  God-fearing  man,  he  took  off 
his  cap  and  prayed. 


246  POST    BRIDGE 

All  at  once  a  little  light  sprang  up  and  moved 
forward.  He  knew  that  this  was  a  Will-o'-the- 
wisp,  and  that  it  was  held  to  lead  into  dangerous 
places ;  but  his  confidence  in  Providence  was  so 
strong,  and  so  assured  was  he  that  the  light  was 
sent  in  answer  to  his  prayer,  that  he  followed  it. 
He  was  conducted  over  ground  fairly  firm,  though 
miry,  till  he  reached  heather  and  a  sound  footing, 
whereupon  the  flame  vanished.  Thanking  God,  he 
pursued  his  way,  taking  his  direction  by  the  stars, 
and  reached  his  destination  in  safety. 

"  I  tell  the  tale  as  'twas  told  to  me,"  but  I  will  not 
vouch  for  the  truth  of  it,  as  I  did  not  hear  it  from 
the  man  himself,  nor  did  I  know  him  personally,  so 
as  to  judge  whether  his  word  could  be  trusted. 

Here,  however,  is  an  instance  on  which  implicit 
reliance  can  be  placed. 

Mr.  W.  Bennett  Dawe,  of  Hill,  near  Ashburton, 
together  with  his  family,  saw  one  on  several  nights 
in  succession  in  the  autumn  of  1898.  The  month 
of  September  had  been  very  hot  and  dry,  and  this 
was  succeeded  by  a  heavy  rainfall  in  October  during 
twenty-three  days.  The  mean  temperature  of  the 
month  was  547,  being  4°  above  the  average  of 
twenty  years.  The  warm  damp  season  following 
on  the  heated  ground  and  the  boggy  deposits  in  the 
Dart  valley  resulted  in  the  generation  of  a  good 
deal  of  decomposition.  Mr.  Dawe  and  several  of  his 
household  observed  at  night  a  light  of  a  phosphor- 
escent nature  in  the  meadows  between  Ashburton 
and  Pridhamsleigh.  It  appeared  to  hover  a  little 
above  the  ground  and  dance  to  and  fro,  then  race 


THE    JACK-O'-LANTERN         247 

off  in  another  direction,  as  if  affected  by  currents 
of  air.  This  was  watched  during  several  evenings, 
and  the  members  of  his  family  were  wont  as  dark- 
ness fell  to  go  out  and  observe  it.  The  meadows  are 
on  deep  alluvial  soil,  formerly  marsh,  and  were 
drained  perhaps  sixty  years  ago. 

The  same  gentleman  saw  a  similar  flame  in  the 
form  of  a  ball  some  forty  years  previously  in  the 
low  and  then  marshy  valley  between  Tor  Abbey 
gateway  and  the  Paignton  road,  near  where  is  now 
the  Devon  Rosery.  The  valley  was  then  und rained. 
The  gas  generated,  which  catches  fire  on  rising 
to  the  surface,  is  phosphoretted  hydrogen,  and  is 
certainly  evolved  by  decay  of  animal  matter  in 
water ;  if  occasionally  seen  in  churchyards  it  is 
probably  after  continued  rain,  when  the  graves  have 
become  sodden. 

Jack-o'-lantern  is  called  in  Yorkshire  Peggy-wi'- 
t'-wisp ;  consequently  the  treacherous,  misleading 
character  is  there  attributed  to  a  sprite  of  that 
sex  which  has  misled  man  from  the  first  moment 
she  appeared  on  earth — who  never  rested  till  she 
had  led  him  out  of  the  terrestrial  paradise  into 
one  of  her  own  making. 

I  was  talking  about  this  one  evening  in  a  little 
tavern,  over  the  fire,  to  a  Cornishman,  when  he  laughed 
and  volunteered  a  song.  It  was  one,  he  said,  that  was 
employed  as  a  test  to  see  whether  a  man  were  sober 
enough  to  be  able  to  repeat  the  numbers  correctly 
that  followed  at  the  close  of  each  stanza.* 

*  I  have  had  to  considerably  tone  down  the  original,  which  was 
hardly  presentable  if  given  verbatim. 


248  POST    BRIDGE 

"As  I  trudged  on  at  ten  at  night 
My  way  to  fair  York  city, 
I  saw  before  a  lantern  light 
Borne  by  a  damsel  pretty. 
I  her  accos't,  '  My  way  I've  lost, 

Your  lantern  let  me  carry  ! 
Then  through  the  land,  both  hand  in  hand, 
We'll  travel.     Prithee  tarry.' 
20,  18,  16,  14,  12,  10,  8,  6,  4,  2, 
19,  17,  15,  13,  1^9,7,5,3,  I. 

"  She  tripp'd  along,  so  nimble  she. 
The  lantern  still  a-swinging. 
And  '  Follow,  follow,  follow  me  ! ' 
Continually  was  singing. 

*  Thy  footsteps  stay  ! '     She  answered,  '  Nay  I ' 

'  Your  name  ?    You  take  my  fancy.' 
She  laughing  said,  nor  turn'd  her  head, 
'  I'm  only  Northern  Nancy.' 

20,  18,  16,  etc. 

"  She  sped  along,  I  in  the  lurch, 
A  lost  and  panting  stranger, 
Till,  lo  !  I  found  me  at  the  Church, 
She'd  led  me  out  of  danger. 

*  Ring  up  the  clerk,'  she  said  ;  '  yet  hark  ! 

Methinks  here  comes  the  pass'n  ; 
He'll  make  us  one,  then  thou  art  done  ; 
He'll  thee  securely  fasten.' 

20,  18,  16,  etc. 

" '  Man  is  a  lost  and  vagrant  clown 
That  should  at  once  be  pounded,' 
She  said,  and  laid  the  matter  down 
/  With  arguments  well  grounded. 

For  years  a  score,  and  even  more, 

I've  lain  in  -wedlock's  fetter, 
Faith  !  she  was  right ;  here,  tied  up  tight, 
I  could  not  have  fared  better 

20,  18,  10,  etc." 


GATHERING    LICHENS         249 

An  industry  on  Dartmoor  that  has  become  com- 
pletely extinct  is  the  collection  of  lichen  from  the 
rocks  for  the  use  of  the  dyers.  There  exists  in  MS. 
an  interesting  book  by  a  Dr.  Tripe,  of  Ashburton, 
recording  what  he  saw  and  did  each  day,  at  the  close 
of  last  century.  He  says  that  he  observed  women 
scraping  off  the  lichen  from  the  rocks  near  the  Drew- 
steignton  cromlech.  This  they  sold  to  the  dyers,  who 
dried  it,  reduced  it  to  powder,  and  treated  it  with  a  solu- 
tion of  tin  in  aqua  fortis  diXid  another  ingredient,  when 
a  most  vivid  scarlet  dye  was  produced.  The  lichen  is 
called  botanically  Lichinoides  saxatile.  Other  lichens 
were  employed  to  give  purple  and  yellow  colours. 
The  cudbear  and  crab's-eye  lichens  {Lecanora  tartarea 
and  Lecanora  pareila)  gave  a  dye  of  a  royal  purple, 
and  the  two  species  called  Parmelia  saxatilis  and 
Parmelia  omphalodes  gave  a  yellowish  brown.  Moss 
also  was  employed  for  the  purpose ;  the  Hypnuni 
cupressifornie  yielded  a  rich  reddish  brown. 

"  Lichens  and  mosses,"  says  Mr.  Parfitt,  "  are  the 
pioneers  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  in  attacking  the 
hard  and  almost  impenetrable  rocks,  and  so  pre- 
paring the  way  for  the  more  noble  plants — the  trees 
and  shrubs — by  gradual  disintegration,  and  by  adding 
their  own  dead  bodies  to  the  soil,  enrich  it  for  the 
food  of  others."* 

It  is  marvellous  to  see  how  the  lichen  attaches 
itself  to  the  granite.  A  harshly  glaring  piece  that 
the  quarrymen  have  cut  is  touched  with  fine  specks 
that  spread  into  black  and  crocus-yellow  circles,  and 

*  "The  Lichen  Flora  of  Devonshire,"  in  Transactions  of  the 
Devonshire  Association^   1883. 


250  POST    BRIDGE 

tone  down  the  stone  to  a  sober  tint.  Unhappily  of 
late  years  there  has  been  much  firing  of  the  furze 
and  heather  on  the  moor,  and  the  flames  destroy  the 
beautiful  lichens  and  mosses,  and  leave  the  old  stones 
white  and  ghostly,  not  to  be  reclothed  with  the  old 
tints  for  centuries. 

I  do  not  think  that  we  have  any  idea  of  the  slow- 
ness with  which  the  lichens  spread ;  a  century  to 
them  is  nothing — it  passes  as  a  watch  in  the  night. 
There  is  a  granite  post  I  often  go  by.  It  was  set 
up  just  seventy  years  ago,  and  on  it  the  largest 
golden  circle  of  the  Physcia  parietina  has  attained 
the  diameter  of  an  inch.  Mr.  Parfitt  mentions  in 
connection  with  it  a  rocky  crag  at  Baggy  Point, 
North  Devon,  where  it  covers  the  whole  surface  with 
a  coat  of  golden  colour.  It  spreads  more  rapidly 
on  slate  than  it  does  on  granite,  and  especially  on 
such  slates  as  are  liable  to  rapid  disintegration.  The 
Woodland  and  the  Coryton  slates  are  readily  attacked 
by  it.  The  growth  begins  with  a  splash  about  the 
size  of  a  sixpence,  and  increases  to  that  of  a  plate, 
when  the  centre  breaks  up,  and  the  ring  becomes 
detached  in  fragments  which  meet  others,  and  so 
appear  to  cover  the  rock  or  roof 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  lichens  on  the 
moor  is  the  coral  moss,  Sphcerophoron  coralloides.  At 
is  a  pale  greenish- white,  upright-growing  lichen,  that 
forms  a  cup,  and  somewhat  resembles  an  old  Venetian 
wineglass.  Then  points  of  brilliant  scarlet  form 
round  the  lip  of  the  cup,  and  increase  in  size  till 
the  whole  presents  a  wonderful  appearance  as  of 
sealing-wax  splashed  over  the  soil.     It  is  not  con- 


THE   CORAL   MOSS  251 

fined  to  the  moorland,  but  grows  also  in  woods, 
where  there  has  been  a  clearance  made.  I  came 
upon  a  wonderful  carpet  of  sprinkled  scarlet  and 
white  on  one  occasion,  where  there  was  a  woodman's 
track  through  an  old  oak  coppice.  But  it  must  be 
capricious,  for  of  late  years  when  searching  for  it  in 
the  same  spot  I  have  found  no  more.  The  black 
coral  moss  is  scarce,  but  it  has  been  found  about 
Lynx  and  Yes  Tors. 

The  birds  on  Dartmoor  have  a  hard  time  of  it,  not 
only  because  of  the  guns  levelled  at  them,  but  because 
of  the  "  swaling  "  or  burning  of  the  moor,  which  takes 
place  at  the  time  when  they  are  nesting.  In  East 
Anglia  there  are  along  the  coast  the  "bird  tides," 
as  the  people  say.  At  that  period  when  the  plovers 
and  sea-mews  are  nesting  in  the  marshes,  there  are  un- 
usually low  tides,  a  provision  of  God,  so  it  is  held,  for 
the  protection  of  the  feathered  creatures  whilst  laying 
and  hatching  out  their  eggs.  So  the  ancients  told  of 
the  halcyon  days  when  the  gods  had  pity  on  the  sea- 
birds,  and  smoothed  seven  to  eleven  days  in  the  winter 
solstice,  that  they  might  with  safety  hatch  their  young. 
But  on  Dartmoor  man  has  none  of  this  pity ;  he 
selects  the  very  time  when  the  poor  birds  are  sitting 
in  their  nests  on  their  eggs,  or  are  cherishing  their 
callow  young,  for  enveloping  them  in  flames.  The 
buzzard,  the  hen-harrier,  and  the  sparrow-hawk  are 
now  chiefly  seen  in  the  most  lonely  portions  of  the 
moor.  Gulls  visit  it  on  the  approach  of  stormy 
weather ;  but  the  ring-ouzel  is  there  throughout  the 
year.  The  golden  and  grey  plovers  are  abundant ; 
the  pipe  of  the  curlew  may  be  heard ;  black  .grouse 


252  POST    BRIDGE 

and  quail  may  be  shot,  as  also  snipe.  By  the  water, 
that  living  jewel  the  kingfisher  can  be  observed 
watching  for  his  prey,  and  about  every  farm  the  blue 
tit,  called  locally  the  hicky  maul  or  hicka  noddy,  is 
abundant.  The  sand  martin  breeds  in  a  few  places. 
The  heron  has  a  place  where  she  builds  at  Archerton. 

The  snow  bunting  and  cirl  bunting  are  met  with 
occasionally. 

The  cuckoo  is  heard  on  the  moor  before  he  visits 
the  lowlands.  "  March,  he  sits  on  his  perch ;  April, 
he  tunes  his  bill ;  May,  he  sings  all  day ;  June,  he 
alters  his  tune,  and  July,  away  he  do  fly."  So  say 
the  people. 

One  of  the  freshest  and  most  delicious  of  Devon- 
shire folk-melodies  is  that  connected  with  a  song 
about  the  cuckoo. 

"  The  cuckoo  is  a  pretty  bird, 

She  sings  as  she  flies  ; 
She  bringeth  good  tidings, 

She  telleth  no  lies. 
She  sucketh  sweet  flowers 

To  keep  her  voice  clear, 
And  when  she  sings  'Cuckoo' 

The  summer  draweth  near.""* 

There  is  a  sayings  among  the  country  folk  : — 

"  Kill  a  robin  or  a  wren, 
Never  prosper,  boy  or  man." 

The  wren  is  said  to  be  the  king  of  all  birds.  The 
story  told  to  account  for  this  is  that  the  birds  once 
assembled  to  elect  a  sovereign,  and  agreed  that  that 

*  Given  in  A  Garland  of  Country  Song.     Methuen,  1895. 


THE   WREN  253 

one  of  the  feathered  creation  who  soared  highest 
should  be  esteemed  king.  The  eagle  mounted,  and 
towered  aloft  high  above  the  rest,  but  was  outwitted 
by  the  wren,  who,  unobserved  and  unfelt,  had  hopped 
on  to  the  eagle's  back. 

The  birds  were  so  distressed  and  angry  at  the 
trick  that  they  resolved  to  drown  the  wren  in  their 
tears.  Accordingly  they  procured  a  pan  into  which 
each  bird  in  turn  wept.  When  it  was  nearly  full  the 
blundering  old  owl  came  up.  "  With  such  big  eyes," 
said  the  birds,  "he  will  weep  great  tears."  But  he 
perched  on  the  edge  of  the  pan  and  upset  it. 
Thenceforth  the  wren  has  reigned  undisputed  king 
of  the  birds. 

There  is  a  curious  story  told  of  a  wren.  In  one 
of  the  Irish  rebellions  a  party  of  British  military 
were  out  after  the  enemy  when,  having  made  a  long 
march,  they  lay  down  to  sleep  and  left  no  one  to 
keep  sentinel.  As  they  lay  slumbering  the  murder- 
ous rascals  stole  up,  creeping  like  snakes  in  the  grass 
and  among  the  bushes,  and  would  have  butchered 
the  entire  party  had  it  not  been  for  a  wren,  which, 
perching  on  the  drum  belonging  to  the  company, 
tapped  it  repeatedly  with  its  little  beak.  This  roused 
the  soldiers,  they  became  aware  of  their  situation, 
and  were  able  just  in  time  to  fire  on  their  assailants 
and  disperse  them. 

In  Ireland,  and  in  Pembrokeshire  and  elsewhere  in 
South  Wales,  it  was  usual,  on  S.  Stephen's  Day  or 
at  the  New  Year,  to  put  a  wren  in  a  lantern  that 
was  decorated  with  ribbons  and  carry  it  about  to 
farms  and  cottages,  with  a  song,  which  was  repaid 


254  POST    BRIDGE 

by  a  small  coin.  Whether  such  a  custom  existed 
in  Devon  I  cannot  say ;  I  remember  nothing  of 
the  sort. 

The  sparrow-hawk  is  often  seen  quivering  aloft  in 
the  air.     A  curious  story  is  told  of  one  by  Mr.  Elliot. 

"As  is  well  known,  not  only  sparrow-hawks,  but  other 
birds  of  prey  as  well  as  other  species,  repair  to  the  same 
site  year  after  year  for  nesting.  This  knowledge  is  valuable 
to  the  keepers,  who  look  up  these  haunts  and  try  to  shoot 
the  old  birds  before  they  hatch  their  eggs.  On  one 
occasion  he  shot  the  female  as  she  came  off  the  nest,  and 
this  satisfied  him,  but  on  visiting  the  spot  later  he  was 
surprised  at  another  female  flying  off;  on  climbing  to  the 
nest  he  found  that  the  male  must  have  found  another  mate, 
as  they  had  built  a  second  nest  over  and  into  the  old  one, 
which  contained  four  eggs,  whilst  the  freshly-built  nest 
contained  five.""^ 

One  has  supposed  hitherto  that  the  gay  widower 
who  looked  out  for  another  spouse  after  having  lost 
the  first  was  a  product  of  the  human  species  only. 

A  visitor  to  Dartmoor  in  June  or  July  will  be 
surprised  to  find  flights  of  rooks  over  it.  As  soon 
as  their  maternal  cares  are  over,  they  desert  the 
rookeries  on  the  lowland  and  go  for  change  of  air 
and  diet  to  the  moor,  where  they  feed  on  the 
whortleberry,  possibly,  but  most  certainly  on  the 
daddy  longlegs  and  its  first  cousin,  who  is  the  hateful 
wireworm  in  his  fully  developed  form.  A  friend 
one  day  saw  a  bit  of  the  moor  dense  with  rooks, 

*  E.  A.  S.  Elliot,  "  Birds  in  the  South  Hams,"  Transactions  of 
the  Devonshire  Association^  1 8991 


DADDY   LONGLEGS  255 

and  surprised  at  their  movements  and  excitement, 
observed  them  closely,  and  discovered  that  they  were 
having  a  glut  of  daddy  longlegs.  The  light  and 
friable  peat  earth  exactly  suits  the  wireworm  in  its 
early  stages,  and  when  the  pest  emerged  from  the 
soil  full  blown,  then  the  rooks  were  down  on  him 
before  he  could  come  to  our  gardens  and  turnip 
fields  to  devastate  them. 

The  one  deficiency  in  the  soil  on  Dartmoor  is 
lime.  That  will  sweeten  the  grass  and  enable  the 
cattle  to  thrive.  Bullocks  and  other  cattle  will  do 
on  the  moor,  but  they  really  need  a  change  to  land 
on  lime  whilst  they  are  growing.  The  roots  of  the 
grass  and  heather  are  ravenous  after  lime,  and  for 
this  reason  it  is  that  of  the  many  interments  on  the 
moor  hardly  a  particle  of  bone  remains. 

From  Post  Bridge  starts  the  Lych  Way,  the  Road 
of  the  Dead,  along  which  corpses  were  conveyed  to 
Lydford,  the  parish  church,  until,  in  1260,  Bishop 
Bronescombe  gave  licence  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Dartmoor,  who  lived  nearer  to  Widdecombe  than 
to  Lydford,  to  resort  thither  for  baptisms  and 
funerals. 

The  Lych  Way  may  be  traced  from  Conies  Down 
Tor  to  Whitabarrow ;  thence  it  strikes  for  Hill  Bridge, 
and  so  across  the  spur  of  Black  Down  to  Lydford 
church. 

When  I  was  a  boy  I  heard  strange  tales  of  the 
Lych  Way — and  of  funerals  being  seen  passing  over 
it  of  moonlight  nights.  But  superstition  is  dead 
now  on  Dartmoor,  as  elsewhere,  and  ghosts  as  well  as 
pixies  have  been  banished,  not  as  the  old  moormen 


256  POST    BRIDGE 

say,  by  the  "  ding-dongs  "  of  the  church  and  mission 
chapel  bells,  but  by  the  voice  of  the  schoolmaster. 

A  walk  or  scramble  down  the  Dart  will  take  to 
the  ruins  of  the  Snaily  House,  the  story  concerning 
which  I  have  told  elsewhere.*  It  may  be  carried 
on  to  Dartmeet,  where  a  little  colony  of  inhabitants 
will  be  found,  and  a  return  may  be  taken  over  Bell- 
ever  Tor,  a  striking  height  that  holds  its  own,-' 
and  seems  to  be  the  true  centre  of  the  moor.  On 
its  slopes  are  several  kistvaens,  but  all  have  been 
robbed  of  their  covering-stones.  There  is  an  un- 
pleasant morass  between  Believer  Tor  and  the  high- 
road. 

I  was  witness  here  of  a  rather  amusing  scene.  A 
gentleman  with  his  wife  and  a  young  lady  friend  of 
hers  had  driven  out,  from  Princetown  or  Tavistock, 
and  when  near  Believer  the  latter  expressed  a  wish 
to  go  to  the  summit  of  the  tor.  The  gentleman 
looked  at  his  better  half,  who  gave  consent  with  a 
nod,  whereupon  he  started  with  the  young  lady,  and 
his  wife  drove  on  and  put  up  the  horse  at  Post  Bridge, 
then  walked  back  to  meet  the  two  as  they  returned 
to  the  high-road,  on  which  madame  promenaded. 
Now,  as  it  fell  out,  the  husband  missed  his  way  on 
trying  to  reach  the  high-road,  and  got  to  the  morass, 
where  he  and  the  young  lady  walked  up  and  down, 
and  every  now  and  then  he  extended  his  hand  and 
helped  her  along  from  one  tuft  of  grass  to  another. 
They  went  up — got  more  involved — then  down 
again,  and  were  fully  half  an  hour  in  the  morass. 

*  Dartmoor  Idylls.      Methuen,  1896. 


AN  AMUSING  SCENE  ^57 

Madame  paced  up  and  down  the  road,  glaring  at 
her  husband  and  the  young  lady  dallying  on  the 
moor,  as  she  took  it ;  for  she  was  quite  unable  to 
apprehend  the  reason  why  they  did  not  come  to 
her  as  the  crow  flies,  and  as  she  considered  was 
her  due.  Her  pace  was  accelerated,  her  turns 
sharper,  her  glances  more  indignant,  as  minute  after 
minute  passed.  She  saw  them  approach,  then  turn 
and  retrace  their  steps,  gyrate,  holding  each  other's 
hands,  and  walk  down  the  slope  some  way.  Then 
along  the  road,  snorting  like  a  war-horse,  went  the 
lady.  She  flourished  her  parasol  at  them ;  she 
called,  they  paid  no  attention.  Finally  they  headed 
the  swamp  and  arrived  on  the  firm  road.  There- 
upon the  lady  strode  forward  speechless  with  wrath 
towards  Post  Bridge  and  the  inn,  where  a  high  tea 
was  ready.  Not  a  word  would  she  vouchsafe  to 
either.  Not  a  word  of  explanation  would  she  listen 
to  from  her  husband. 

Curious  to  see  the  end,  I  went  on  to  Webb's  Inn, 
and  came  in  on  the  party. 

The  gentleman  sat  limp  and  crestfallen. 

An  excellent  tea  was  ready.  Cold  chicken,  ham, 
whortleberry  jam  and  Devonshire  cream.  He  ate 
nothing. 

"  My  dear,"  said  madame  to  her  husband,  "  you  are 
not  eating." 

"  No,  precious ! "  he  replied.  "  I  have  lost  my 
appetite." 

"  But,"  retorted  she,  "  the  moor  gives  one." 

"  Not  to  me,"  he  responded  feebly.     "  I  don't  feel 
well.     The  moor  has  taken  mine  away." 
s 


258  POST    BRIDGE 

Obviously  there  had  been  an  interview,  tete-a-tete^ 
before  they  sat  down. 

Presently  I  saw  them  drive  away. 

Madame  brandished  the  whip  and  held  the  reins, 
and  the  young  lady  friend  sat  in  front. 

Monsieur  was  behind,  disconsolate  and  sniffing. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
PRINCETOWN 

Sir  Thomas  Tyrwhitt  and  Princetown— A  desolate  spot— The  prisons 
— Escapes— A  burglary — Merrivale  Bridge  and  its  group  of  remains 
— Staple  Tor — Walk  up  the  Walkham  to  Merrivale  Bridge — Harter 
Tor— Black  Tor  logan  stone— Tor  Royal — Wistman's  Wood — Bair- 
down  Man — Langstone  Moor  Circle — Fice's  Well — Whitchurch — 
Archpriests— Heath  and  heather— Heather  ale — White  Heath. 

KING  LOUIS  XIV.  selected  the  most  barren 
and  intractable  bit  of  land  out  of  which  to 
create  Versailles,  with  its  gardens,  plantations,  and 
palace;  and  Sir  Thomas  Tyrwhitt  chose  the  most 
inhospitable  site  for  the  planting  of  a  town.  Sir 
Thomas  was  Black  Rod,  and  Warden  of  the  Stan- 
naries. He  was  a  man  of  a  sanguine  temperament, 
for  he  calculated  on  reaping  gold  where  he  sowed 
shillings,  and  that  in  Dartmoor  bogs. 

At  his  recommendation  prisons  were  erected  at 
Princetown  in  1806,  at  a  cost  of  ;f  130,000,  for  the 
captives  in  the  French  and  American  wars.  Sir 
George  Magrath,  M.D.,  the  physician  who  presided 
over  the  medical  department  from  18 14  until  the 
close  of  the  war,  testified  to  the  salubrity  of  the 
establishment. 

"From  personal  correspondence  with  other  establish- 
ments similar  to  Dartmoor,  I  presume  the  statistical  record 
of  that  great  tomb  of  the  living  (embosomed  as  it  is  in 

259 


26o  PRINCETOWN 

a  desert  and  desolate  waste  of  wild,  and  in  the  winter 
time  terrible  scenery,  exhibiting  the  sublimity  and  grandeur 
occasionally  of  elemental  strife,  but  never  partaking  of 
the  beautiful  of  Nature;  its  climate,  too,  cheerless  and 
hyperborean),  with  all  its  disadvantages,  will  show  that  the 
health  of  its  incarcerated  tenants,  in  a  general  way,  equalled, 
if  not  surpassed,  any  war  prison  in  England  or  Scotland. 
This  might  be  considered  an  anomaly  in  sanitary  history, 
when  we  reflect  how  ungenially  it  might  be  supposed  to 
act  on  southern  constitutions;  for  it  was  not  unusual  in 
the  months  of  December  and  January  for  the  thermometer 
to  stand  at  thirty-three  to  thirty-five  degrees  below  freezing, 
indicating  cold  almost  too  intense  to  support  animal  life. 
But  the  density  of  the  congregated  numbers  in  the  prison 
created  an  artificial  climate,  which  counteracted  the  tor- 
pifying  effect  of  the  Russian  climate  without.  Like  most 
climates  of  extreme  heat  or  cold,  the  new-comers  re- 
quired a  seasoning  to  assimilate  their  constitution  to  its 
peculiarities,  in  the  progress  of  which  indispositions, 
incidental  to  low  temperature,  assailed  them;  and  it 
was  an  everyday  occurrence  among  the  reprobate  and 
incorrigible  classes  of  the  prisoners,  who  gambled  away 
their  clothing  and  rations,  for  individuals  to  be  brought 
up  to  the  receiving  room  in  a  state  of  suspended  animation, 
from  which  they  were  usually  resuscitated  by  the  process 
resorted  to  in  like  circumstances  in  frigid  regions.  I 
believe  one  death  only  took  place  during  my  sojourn  at 
Dartmoor,  from  torpor  induced  by  cold,  and  the  profligate 
part  of  the  French  were  the  only  sufferers.  As  soon  as 
the  system  became  acclimated  to  the  region  in  which  they 
Uved,  health  was  seldom  disturbed." 

There  were  from  seven  to  nine  thousand  prisoners 
incarcerated  in  the  old  portion  of  the  establishment. 


THE    PRISON  261 

• 

They  were  packed  for  the  night  in  stages  one  above 
another,  and  we  can  well  believe  that  by  this  means 
they  "  created  an  artificial  climate,"  but  it  must  have 
been  an  unsavoury  as  well  as  an  unwholesome  one. 

Over  the  prison  gates  is  the  inscription  ''  Parcere 
subjectis!'  and  the  discomfort  of  so  many  being 
crammed  into  insufficient  quarters  strikes  us  now, 
and  renders  the  inscription  ironical;  but  it  was  not  so 
regarded  or  intended  at  the  time.  Our  convicts  are 
nursed  in  the  lap  of  luxury  as  compared  with  the  con- 
dition of  the  prisoners  at  the  beginning  of  the  century. 
But  then  the  criminal  is  the  spoiled  child  of  the  age, 
to  be  petted,  and  pampered,  and  excused. 

A  convict  with  one  eye,  his  nose  smashed  on  one 
side,  with  coarse  fleshy  lips,  was  accosted  by  the 
chaplain.  "  For  what  are  you  in  here,  my  man  ? " 
"  For  bigamy,"  was  the  reply.  "  'Twasn't  my  fault ; 
the  women  would  have  me." 

One  marvels  that  such  a  deformed,  plain  spot  as 
the  col  between  the  two  Hessary  Tors  should  have 
been  selected  for  a  town.  The  only  reply  one  can 
give  is  that  Sir  Thomas  Tyrwhitt  and  the  Prince 
Regent  would  have  it  so.  It  is  on  the  most  in- 
clement site  that  could  have  been  selected,  catching 
the  clouds  from  the  south-west,  and  condensing  fog 
about  it  when  everywhere  else  is  clear.  It  is  exposed 
equally  to  the  north  and  east  winds.  It  stands  over 
fourteen  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  above  the  sources 
of  the  Meavy,  in  the  ugliest  as  well  as  least  suitable 
situation  that  could  have  been  selected ;  the  site  de- 
termined by  Sir  Thomas,  so  as  to  be  near  his  granite 
quarries. 


262  PRINCETOWN 

There  have  been  various  attempts  made  by  prisoners 
to  escape.  One  of  the  most  desperate  was  in  Novem- 
ber, 1880,  when  a  conspiracy  had  been  organised 
among  the  convicts.  At  the  time  a  good  many 
were  engaged  in  a  granite  quarry.  They  had  agreed 
to  make  a  sudden  dash  on  the  warders,  overpower 
them,  whilst  in  the  quarry ;  and  they  chose  for  the 
attempt  the  day  in  the  month  on  which  the  governor 
went  to  Plymouth  to  receive  the  money  for  payment 
of  the  officials,  with  intent  to  waylay,  rob,  and  murder 
him,  then  to  break  up  into  parties  of  two,  and  disperse 
over  the  moor. 

One  of  the  conspirators  betrayed  them,  so  that  the 
scheme  was  known.  It  was  deemed  advisable  not 
in  any  way  to  alter  the  usual  arrangements,  lest  this 
should  inspire  suspicion  in  the  minds  of  the  convicts. 
The  warders,  armed  with  rifles,  who  keep  guard  at 
a  distance  round  the  quarry,  were  told  when  they 
heard  the  chief  warder's  whistle  to  close  round  the 
quarry,  and,  if  necessary,  fire. 

The  gang  was  marched,  as  usual,  under  a  slender 
escort,  to  the  quarry,  and  work  was  begun  as  usual. 
All  went  well  till  suddenly  the  ringleader  turned 
about  and,  with  his  crowbar,  struck  at  the  head 
warder  and  staggered  him  for  the  moment :  he  reeled 
and  almost  fell.  Instantly  the  convict  shouted  to 
his  fellows,  "  Follow  me,  boys  !  Hurrah  for  freedom ! " 
And  they  made  a  dash  for  the  entrance  to  the  quarry. 

Meanwhile  the  head  warder  had  rallied  sufficiently 
to  whistle,  but  before  the  outer  ring  of  guards  ap- 
peared some  of  the  under  warders  discharged  their 
rifles  at  the  two  leading  convicts.     One  fell  dead,  the 


ESCAPES  263 

Other  was  riddled  with  shot,  yet,  strange  to  say,  lived, 
and,  I  believe,  is  alive  still. 

Before  the  rest  of  the  conspirators  could  master 
the  warders  in  the  quarry  and  get  away,  the  men 
who  had  been  summoned  appeared  on  the  edge  of 
the  hollow,  that  was  like  a  crater,  with  their  rifles 
aimed  at  the  convicts,  who  saw  the  game  was  up, 
and  submitted. 

There  are  always  some  crooked  minds  and  per- 
verse spirits  in  England  ready  to  side  with  the 
enemies  of  their  country  or  of  society,  whether  Boers 
or  burglars ;  and  so  it  was  in  this  case.  A  great 
outcry  was  made  at  the  shooting  of  the  two  ring- 
leaders. If  a  warder  had  been  killed,  no  pity  would 
have  been  felt  for  him  by  these  faddists.  All  their 
feelings  of  sympathy  were  enlisted  on  behalf  of  the 
wrongdoer. 

A  curious  case  occurred  in  1895. 

On  March  loth,  Sunday,  at  night,  the  chaplain, 
who  lived  in  a  house  in  the  town,  being  unable  to 
sleep,  about  half-past  eleven  went  downstairs  in  his 
dressing-gown.  He  was  surprised  to  notice  a  light 
approaching  from  the  study.  Then  he  observed  a 
man  emerge  into  the  hall,  holding  a  large  clasp 
knife  in  his  hand.  On  seeing  the  chaplain,  whose 
name  was  Rickards,  he  uttered  a  yell,  and  rushed 
at  him  with  the  knife. 

The  chaplain,  who  maintained  his  nerve,  said, 
"  Stop  this  fooling,  and  come  in  here  and  let  us  have 
a  little  talk ;  you  have  clearly  lost  your  way." 

The  fellow  offered  no  resistance,  and  allowed  him- 
self to   be  led  into  the   study,  where   the  Rev.  C. 


264  PRINCETOWN 

Rickards  quietly  seated  himself  on  the  table,  and 
said  to  the  burglar,  "  Now,  we  shall  get  on  better 
if  you  give  me  up  that  knife."  At  the  same  time 
he  took  hold  of  the  blade  and  attempted  to  gain 
possession  of  it.  He  had  disengaged  two  of  the 
man's  fingers  from  it,  when  the  fellow  drew  the  knife 
away,  thereby  badly  cutting  the  chaplain's  hand. 
Mr.  Rickards  then  jumped  off  the  table,  exclaiming, 
*'  This  is  not  fair  ! " 

"  Look  here,"  said  the  burglar,  "  I  won't  be  took 
at  no  price,"  and  flourished  the  knife  defiantly. 
Noticing  that  the  fellow's  pockets  bulged  greatly, 
Mr.  Rickards  said,  "You're  not  going  out  with  my 
property,"  and  closed  with  him,  and  endeavoured 
to  put  his  hand  into  one  of  the  pockets.  The 
burglar  resisted,  and  made  for  the  door.  Mr. 
Rickards  now  got  near  where  his  gun  hung  on  the 
wall ;  he  took  it  down,  and  clicked  the  hammer. 
The  gun  was  not  loaded.  The  burglar  then  blew 
out  the  candle  he  carried,  and  ran  from  the  room. 
Mr.  Rickards  at  once  loaded  his  gun  with  cartridges, 
and  followed  the  fellow  into  the  passage.  He  still 
had  his  own  candle  alight.  The  man  then  bolted 
into  the  drawing-room,  and  endeavoured  to  open 
the  window.  The  chaplain  entered,  and  said,  "  Now 
bail  up ;  up  with  your  arms,  or  I  shall  fire." 

Thereupon  the  burglar  made  a  dash  at  him,  head 
down,  and  the  chaplain  retreated,  the  man  rushing 
after  him.  Mr.  Rickards  had  no  desire  to  fire,  and 
as  the  fellow  plunged  past  him,  he  struck  at  him 
with  the  gun,  but  missed  him.  The  fellow  then 
dashed  through  the  doorway,  and  ran  again  into  the 


A   BURGLARY  265 

study.  The  chaplain  pursued  him,  and,  standing  in 
the  doorway,  said,  "  Now  I  have  you.  The  gun  is 
loaded,  and  I  shall  certainly  fire  if  you  come  towards 
me. 

The  burglar  stood  for  a  moment  eyeing  him,  and 
then  made  a  leap  at  him  with  the  uplifted  knife ; 
and  Mr.  Rickards  fired  at  his  legs.  The  man  was 
hit,  and  staggered  back  against  the  mantelboard. 
The  chaplain  said,  "  Have  you  had  enough  ?  " 

Again  the  fellow  gathered  himself  up  with  raised 
knife  to  fall  on  him,  when  Mr.  Rickards  said  coolly, 
"  The  other  barrel  is  loaded,  and  I  shall  fire  if  you 
advance."  The  man,  however,  again  came  on,  when 
the  chaplain  fired  again,  and  hit  the  man  in  his 
right  arm,  and  the  knife  fell.  Mr.  Rickards  stooped, 
picked  up  the  knife,  closed  it,  and  put  it  into  his 
pocket.  Then,  thinking  that  there  might  be  more 
than  this  one  man  engaged  in  the  burglary,  he  re- 
loaded his  gun.  The  burglar  now  went  down  in  a 
lump  on  the  hearthrug,  bleeding  badly. 

By  this  time  the  house  was  roused  ;  the  servants 
had  taken  alarm,  and  had  sent  for  the  warders,  who 
arrived,  and  a  doctor  was  summoned. 

The  fellow  had  been  engaged  in  a  good  many 
robberies  prior  to  this. 

One  night  a  couple  of  young  convicts  escaped, 
and  obtained  entrance  into  the  doctor's  house,  where 
evidently  a  large  supper  party  had  been  held,  as  the 
tables  had  not  been  cleared  after  the  departure  of 
the  guests.  Afterwards,  when  retaken,  one  of  the 
men  said : — 

"Sir,  it  was  just  as  though  the  doctor  had  made 


266  PRINCETOWN 

ready,  and  was  expecting  us  to  supper.  The  table 
was  laid,  and  there  were  chickens  and  ham,  tongue, 
and  cold  meats,  with  puddings,  cakes,  and  decanters 
of  wine,  making  our  mouths  fairly  water.  We  ate 
and  ate  as  only  two  hungry  convicts  could  eat  after 
the  semi-starvation  of  prison  diet.  I  could  not  look 
at  a  bit  more  when  I  had  finished.  '  Try  just  a  leetle 
slice  more  of  this  ham,'  said  my  chum.  '  No,  thank 
you,  Bill;  I  couldn't  eat  another  mouthful  to  save  my 
life.'     And  so  we  left,  and  were  caught  on  going  out." 

Soon  after  this  the  chaplain  visited  the  fellow  who 
had  been  recaptured,  and  seeing  him  depressed  and 
in  a  very  unhappy  frame  of  mind,  said  to  him,  "Any- 
thing on  your  soul,  man  ?  Your  conscience  troubling 
you?" 

"  Terrible,"  answered  the  convict ;  "  I  shall  never 
get  over  my  self-reproach — not  taking  another  slice 
of  ham." 

An  old  man  succeeded  in  getting  away  in  a  fog; 
he  ran  as  far  as  Ilsington  before  he  was  caught 

When  brought  back  he  was  rather  oddly  attired, 
and  amongst  other  things  carried  a  labourer's  hoe. 
This  he  employed  vigorously  when  crossing  fields, 
if  anyone  came  in  sight.  When  captured  a  farmer 
came  to  view  him.  "  Why,  drat  it,"  he  exclaimed, 
"that's  the  man  I  saw  hoeing  Farmer  Coaker's  stubble 
fields  the  other  day.  It  struck  me  as  something  new 
in  farming,  and  I  was  going  to  ask  him  what  there 
was  in  it  that  he  paid  a  labourer  to  hoe  his  stubbles." 
This  same  convict,  who  was  acquainted  with  the 
neighbourhood,  whilst  temporarily  at  large  paid  a 
visit  to  his  wife  one  night.     He  asked  her  to  let  him 


ESCAPES  267 

come  into  the  house,  telling  who  he  was.  "Not 
likely;  you  don't  come  in  here.  The  policeman's 
about  the  place,  and  I  don't  want  'ee,"  was  her 
cheering  reply. 

During  another  recent  escape  from  Dartmoor  an 
amusing  incident  occurred  in  a  lonely  lane  on  a  dark 
night  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Walkhampton.  Two 
warders  on  guard  mistook  an  inoffensive  but  par- 
tially inebriated  farmer  for  the  escaped  convict,  and 
he  mistook  them  for  a  couple  of  runaways. 

"  Here  he  comes,"  exclaimed  one  warder  to  the 
other  at  the  sound  of  approaching  footsteps.  "  Now 
for  him,"  as  they  both  pounced  out  of  the  hedge 
where  they  had  been  in  hiding,  and  seized  hold  of 
the  man. 

"  Look  here,  my  good  fellows,"  he  cried.  "  I  know 
who  you  be.  You  be  them  two  runaways  from 
Princetown,  and  I'll  give  you  all  Fve  got,  clothes 
and  all,  if  only  you  won't  murder  me.  Fve  got  a 
wife  and  childer  to  home.  I'm  sure  now  I  don't 
a  bit  mind  goin'  home  wi'out  any  of  my  clothes 
on  to  my  body.  My  wife'll  forgive  that,  under  the 
sarcumstances ;  but  to  go  back  wi'out  nother  my 
clothes  nor  my  body  either — that  would  be  more 
nor  my  missus  could  bear  and  forgive.  I'd  niver 
hear  the  end  of  it." 

Formerly  the  manner  in  which  escapes  were  made 
was  by  the  convicts  when  peat-cutting  building  up  a 
comrade  in  a  peat-stack,  but  the  warders  are  now  too 
much  on  the  alert  for  this  to  take  place  successfully. 

Such  buildings  as  have  been  erected  at  Princetown 
are  ugly.     The  only  structure  that  is  not  so  is  the 


268  PRINCETOWN 

"  Plume  of  Feathers,"  erected  by  the  French  prisoners. 
Every  other  house  is  hideous,  and  most  hideous  of 
all  are  the  rows  of  residences  recently  erected  for  the 
warders,  for  they  are  pretentious  as  well  as  ugly. 

Yet  Princetown  may  serve  as  a  centre  for  excur- 
sions, if  the  visitor  can  endure  the  intermittent  rushes 
of  the  trippers  on  their  "  cherry-bangs,"  and  the  per- 
sistent presence  of  the  convict.  If  he  objects  to 
these,  he  can  find  accommodation  a  couple  of  miles 
off,  at  Two  Bridges ;  but  if  he  desire  creature  com- 
forts he  is  sure  of  good  entertainment  at  Princetown. 

The  group  of  remains  at  Merrivale  Bridge  is  with- 
in an  easy  walk.  These  are  the  most  famous  on 
Dartmoor — not  for  their  size  or  consequence,  but 
because  most  accessible,  being  beside  the  road.  But 
the  whole  collection  is  happily  very  complete. 

There  is  a  menhir,  a  so-called  sacred  circle,  stone 
rows,  a  kistvaen,  a  pound,  hut  circles,  and  a  cairn. 

The  menhir  was  the  starting-point  of  a  stone  row 
that  has  been  plundered  for  the  construction  of  a 
wall.  The  sacred  circle  is  composed  of  very  small 
stones,  and  probably  at  one  time  inclosed  a  cairn. 
The  stone  rows  that  exist  are  fairly  perfect.  Those 
on  the  south,  a  double  row,  start  from  a  cairn  at 
the  west  end  that  has  been  almost  destroyed,  and 
end  in  blocking-stones  to  the  east.  They  are,  how- 
ever, interrupted  by  a  small  cairn  within  a  ring  of 
stones,  and,  curiously  enough,  much  as  at  Chagford, 
another  row  starts  near  it  at  a  tangent  from  a  partly 
destroyed  cairn.     The  double  row  runs  849  feet. 

The  north  pair  of  rows  is  imperfect ;  it  probably 
had  a  cairn  at  the  west  end,  but  of  it  no  traces  now 


STAPLE   TOR 


A   GROUP   OF    REMAINS       269 

remain.  It  consists  of  a  double  row,  and  ends  in  a 
blocking-stone  at  the  east  end.  It  can  be  traced 
for  only  590  feet. 

A  fine  kistvaen,  formerly  in  a  cairn,  lies  to  the 
south  of  the  southern  pair  of  rows.  A  few  years  ago  a 
stonecutter  at  Merrivale  Bridge  took  a  gatepost  out 
of  the  coverer.  In  this  kistvaen  have  been  found, 
though  previously  rifled,  a  flint  knife  and  a  polishing 
stone.  There  were  formerly  two  large  cairns  near, 
but  both  have  been  destroyed  by  the  road-makers, 
as  have  also  many  of  the  hut  circles ;  a  good  many, 
however,  yet  remain,  and  some  are  inclosed  within  a 
pound.  In  this  ground  is  an  apple-crusher,  like  an 
upper  millstone,  that  has  been  cut,  but  never  re- 
moved, because  the  demand  for  these  stones  ceased 
with  the  introduction  of  the  screw-press.  Some  ardent 
but  not  experienced  antiquaries  have  supposed  it 
to  be  a  cromlech !  As  such  it  is  figured  in  Major 
Hamilton  Smith's  plan  of  the  remains  in  1828. 

The  tor  Over  Tor,  on  the  right-hand  side  of  the 
road,  was  overthrown  by  some  trippers — the  first 
swallows  of  a  coming  flight — early  in  the  century. 

The  descent  to  Merrivale  Bridge  is  fine ;  the  bold 
tors  of  Roos  and  Staple  stand  up  grandly  above  the 
Walkham  river.  Walkham,  by  the  way,  is  Walla- 
combe,  the  valley  of  the  Walla. 

The  flank  of  Mis  Tor  towards  the  river  is  strewn 
with  inclosures  and  hut  circles. 

On  Staple  Tor  is  a  so-called  tolmen,  a  freak  of 
nature,  unassisted  by  art.  Cox  Tor  beyond  is 
crowned  with  cairns,  but  they  have  been  rifled. 

A   very   charming   excursion    may '  be   made   by 


270  PRINCETOWN 

following  the  Plymouth  road  to  Peak  Hill,  then 
descending  to  Hockworthy  Bridge,  and  ascending 
the  river  as  best  possible  thence,  by  Woodtown  to 
Merrivale  Bridge.  There  is  a  lane  above  Ward 
Bridge  that  mounts  the  hillside  on  the  east,  and 
commands  a  fine  view  of  Vixen  Tor  with  Staple 
and  Roos  Tors  behind.  In  the  evening,  when  the 
valley  is  in  purple  shade,  a  flood  of  golden  glory 
from  the  west  illumines  Vixen  Tor,  and  this  is  the 
true  light  in  which  the  river  should  be  ascended.  A 
so-called  cyclopean  bridge  is  passed  that  spans  a 
stream  foaming  down  to  join  the  Walkham. 

Walkhampton  church  need  not  arrest  the  pedes- 
trian ;  it  has  a  fine  tower,  but  contains  absolutely 
nothing  of  interest.  Adjoining  the  churchyard  is, 
however,  a  very  early  church  house,  probably  more 
ancient  than  the  present  Perpendicular  church. 

Sampford  Spiney  has  its  village  church,  a  quaint, 
small,  old  manor  house,  and  a  good  tower  to  the 
church.  It  is  somewhat  curious  that  the  dedication 
of  neither  of  these  churches  is  recorded. 

Within  an  easy  stroll  of  Princetown  to  the  south 
is  Harter  Tor.  There  are  here  many  hut  circles,  and 
below  Harter  Tor  are  stone  avenues  leading  from 
cairns. 

Black  Tor,  that  looks  down  on  these  remains,  is 
also  above  a  blowing-house  and  miners'  hut,  not 
of  an  ancient  date,  as  it  had  a  chimney  and  fire- 
place.    The  mould-stone  lies  in  the  grass  and  weed. 

Black  Tor  has  on  it  a  logan  stone  that  can  be 
rocked  by  taking  hold  of  a  natural  handle.  On  its 
summit  is  a  rock  basin. 


3  ■>  i 
J  >  ' 
J    >    J 


J  O  J    > 


re  c  c 

etc  *•  '^ 


TOR   ROYAL 


271 


Tor  Royal  was  built  by  Sir  Thomas  Tyrwhitt,  and 
there  he  entertained  the  Prince  Regent  when  that 
worthy  visited  Dartmoor.  Tradition  tells  of  high 
revelry  and  debauches  taking  place  on  that  occasion. 
Sir  Thomas  planted  trees  that  are  doing  fairly  well. 


BLOWING-HOUSE  BELOW   BLACK  TOR. 


In  the  valley  of  the  West  Dart,  under  Longaford 
and  Littaford  Tors,  is  Wistman's  Wood,  now  sadly 
reduced  in  size.  It  has  been  assumed  to  be  the  last 
remains  of  the  forest  that  once  covered  Dartmoor. 
But  no  forest  ever  did  that;  at  all  events  no  forest 
of  trees.  The  ashes  of  the  fires  used  by  the  primi- 
tive inhabitants  show  that  peat  was  their  principal 


272  PRINCETOWN 

fuel,  and  that  what  oak  and  alder  they  burned  was 
small  and  stunted. 

In  the  sheltered  combes  doubtless  trees  grew,  but 
not  to  any  height  and  size. 

The  early  antiquaries,  S.  Rowe  and  E.  Atkyns 
Bray,  talked  much  tall  nonsense  about  Wistman's 
Wood  as  a  sacred  grove,  dedicated  to  the  rites  of 
Druidism,  and  of  the  collection  of  mistletoe  from 
the  boughs  of  the  oaks.  As  it  happens,  there  are 
no  prehistoric  monuments  near  the  wood  to  indicate 
that  it  was  held  in  reverence,  and  no  mistletoe  grows 
in  Devon,  and  in  Somersetshire  only  on  apple  trees. 
Indeed,  the  mistletoe  will  not  grow  higher  than  five 
or  six  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  and  Wistman's 
Wood  is  not  much  less  than  a  thousand  feet  above 
the  sea-level. 

In  July,  1882,  the  central  portion  of  the  wood 
was  set  fire  to,  it  was  thought  by  trippers,  in  an 
attempt  to  boil  a  kettle.  This  has  helped  to  reduce 
the  ancient  wood ;  but  what  prevents  its  increase  is 
the  sheep,  which  eat  the  young  trees  as  they  shoot 
up.  It  has  been  said  that  Wistman's  Wood  oaks 
produce  no  acorns.  This,  however,  is  not  the  case. 
The  trees  are  so  venerable  that  their  power  to  bear 
fruit  is  nearly  over,  yet  they  still  produce  some 
acorns,  and  there  are  young  oaks  growing — but  not 
where  sheep  roam — that  have  come  from  these  parent 
stocks. 

By  ascending  Bairdown,  aiming  for  Lydford  Tor, 
and  then  following  the  ridge  almost  due  north,  but 
with  a  little  deflection  to  the  west.  Devil  Tor  may 
be  reached,  and  near  this  stands  the  most  impressive 


THE    BAIRDOWN    MAN         273 

menhir  on  the  moor,  the  Bairdown  Man.  The  height 
is  only  twelve  feet,  but  it  is  clothed  in  black  lichen, 
and  stands  in  such  a  solitary  spot  that  it  inevitably 
leaves  an  impression  on  the  imagination.  There  is 
no  token  of  there  having  ever  been  a  stone  row  in 
connection  with  it. 

It  may  here  be  noticed  that  the  names  Lydford 
Tor,  Littaford,  Longaford,  Belleford,  Reddaford,  do 
not  apply  to  any  fords  over  the  streams,  which  may 
be  crossed  without  difficulty,  but  take  their  appella- 
tion from  the  Celtic  fordd,  "  a  way,"  and  the  tors 
about  the  Cowsick  and  West  Dart  take  their  titles 
from  the  great  central  causeway  or  from  the  Lych 
Way  that  passed  by  them. 

The  portion  of  the  Cowsick  above  Two  Bridges 
abounds  in  charming  studies  of  river,  rock,  and 
timber. 

An  excursion  to  Great  Mis  Tor  will  enable  the 
visitor  to  see  a  large  rock  basin,  the  Devil's  Frying- 
pan  as  it  is  called,  and  then,  if  he  descends  Greena- 
ball,  where  are  cairns,  he  will  see  on  the  slope 
opposite  him,  beyond  the  Walkham,  a  large  village, 
consisting  of  circular  pounds  and  hut  circles.  On 
reaching  the  summit  of  the  hill  he  will  see  a  fine 
circle  of  upright  stones.  It  was  originally  double, 
but  nearly  all  the  stones  forming  the  outer  ring  have 
been  removed.  The  rest  were  fallen,  but  have  been 
re-erected  by  His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Bedford. 

In  such  a  case  there  can  be  no  arbitrary  restora- 
tion, for  the  holes  that  served  as  sockets  for  the 
stones  can  always  be  found,  together  with  the  trigger- 
stones.     Indeed,   it    is   easy    by    the    shape    of   the 


274  PRINCETOWN 

socket-holes  to  see  in  which  way  the  existing  stones 
were  planted. 

About  half  a  mile  to  the  north-west  is  the  Lang- 
stone,  which  gives  its  name  to  this  down ;  it  is  of  a 
basaltic  rock,  and  not,  as  is  usual,  of  granite.  Fice's 
Well,  which  I  remember  in  the  midst  of  moor,  is 
now  included  within  the  newtake  of  the  prisons, 
and  a  wall  has  been  erected  to  protect  it.  This 
deprives  it  of  much  of  its  charm.  It  was  erected 
by  John  Fitz  in  1568.  Cut  on  the  granite  coverer 
are  the  initials  of  John  Fitz  and  the  date. 

The  tradition  is  that  John  Fitz  of  Fitzford  and  his 
lady  were  once  pixy-led  whilst  on  Dartmoor.  After 
long  wandering  in  vain  effort  to  find  their  way,  they 
dismounted  to  rest  their  horses  by  a  pure  spring  that 
bubbled  up  on  a  heathery  hillside.  There  they 
quenched  their  thirst ;  but  the  water  did  more  than 
that — it  opened  their  eyes,  and  dispelled  the  pixy 
glamour  that  had  been  cast  over  them,  so  that  at 
once  they  were  able  to  take  a  right  direction  so  as 
to  reach  Tavistock  before  dark  night  fell.  In  grati- 
tude for  this,  John  Fitz  adorned  the  spring  with  a 
granite  structure,  on  which  were  cut  in  low-relief  his 
initials  and  the  date  of  his  adventure. 

There  are  some  old  crosses  that  may  be  seen  by 
such  as  are  interested  in  these  venerable  relics.  The 
Windy-post  stands  between  Barn  Hill  and  Feather 
Tor,  and  there  are  also  two  on  Whitchurch  Down. 
One  of  these,  the  more  modern,  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  has  lost  its  shaft,  and  is  reduced  to  a  head ; 
but  the  other  cross  may,  perhaps,  date  from  the 
seventh  century — it  may  even  be  earlier.   Whitchurch 


WHITCHURCH  275 

was  an  archpriesthood  ;  there  were  two  of  these  in 
Devon  and  one  in  Cornwall.  The  origin  of  these 
archpriesthoods  is  probably  this. 

In  Celtic  countries  the  king  liked  to  have  his 
household  priest,  who  ministered  to  the  retinue  and 
to  his  family.  On  the  other  hand,  the  tribe  had  its 
own  saint,  who  was  the  ecclesiastical  official  for  the 
tribe  and  educated  the  young. 

As  the  kings  increased  in  power,  and  the  old  tribal 
arrangement  broke  down,  they  had  their  house- 
hold priests  consecrated  bishops,  and  the  tribal  lands 
were  constituted  their  dioceses.  But  in  Devon  and 
Cornwall  this  could  not  be,  as  the  Saxons  took  all 
power  away  from  the  native  princes,  and  the  Latin 
ecclesiastics  would  not  endure  the  peculiar  ecclesi- 
astical organisation  of  the  Celts.  The  household 
priests  of  the  conquered  chieftains  therefore  simply 
remained  as  archpriests.  The  Saxon  and  then  the 
Norman  nobles  were  not  averse  from  having  their  own 
chaplains  free  from  episcopal  jurisdiction,  and  in  some 
places  the  archpriest  remained  on.  But  the  bishops 
did  not  like  them,  and  one  by  one  gobbled  them  up. 
Whitchurch  was  regulated  by  Bishop  Stapeldon  in 
1332.  At  present  only  one  archpriesthood  lingers  on, 
that  of  Haccombe.  At  an  episcopal  visitation,  when 
the  name  of  the  archpriest  is  recited  by  the  episcopal 
official,  he  does  not  respond,  as  to  answer  the  citation 
would  be  a  recognition  of  the  bishop's  jurisdiction 
over  Haccombe.  The  very  fine  piece  of  screen  in 
Whitchurch  was  placed  there  by  a  former  Lord 
Devon.  It  comes  from  Moreton  Hampstead.  When 
the  dunderheads  there  cast  it  forth,  the  Earl  secured 


276  PRINCETOWN 

it  and  placed  it  where  it  might  be  preserved  and 
valued.     It  is  of  excellent  work. 

Before  laying  down  my  pen  I  feel  that  I  have  not 
done  homage  to  that  which,  after  all,  gives  the  flavour 
of  poetry  to  the  moorland — the  heath  and  heather. 
I  was  one  day  on  the  top  of  the  coach  from  Hols- 
worthy  to  Bude,  between  two  Scotch  ladies,  and  I 
put  to  them  the  question, "  Which  is  heath  and  which 
heather — that  with  the  large,  or  that  with  the  small 
bells?"  And  Jennie,  on  my  right,  said:  "The  large 
bell — that  is  heather";  but  Grizel,  on  my  left,  said  : 
"  Nay,  the  small  bell— that  is  heather."  As  Scottish 
women  were  undecided,  I  referred  to  books,  and 
take  their  decision.  The  large  bell  is  heath ;  the  ling, 
that  is  heather. 

In  old  times,  so  it  is  said,  the  Picts  made  of  the 
heather  a  most  excellent  beer,  and  the  secret  was 
preserved  among  them.  Leyden  says  that  when 
the  Picts  were  exterminated,  a  father  and  son,  who 
alone  survived,  were  brought  before  Kenneth  the 
Conqueror,  who  promised  them  life  if  they  would 
divulge  the  secret  of  heather  ale.  As  they  remained 
silent,  the  son  was  put  to  death  before  the  eyes  of 
his  father.  This  exercise  of  cruelty  failed  in  its 
effect.  "  Sire,"  said  the  old  Pict,  '*  your  threats  might 
have  influenced  my  son,  but  they  have  no  effect  on 
me."  The  king  suffered  the  Pict  to  live,  and  the 
secret  remained  untold. 

Ah,  weel !  the  Scotch  make  up  for  their  loss  upon 
whisky. 

A  recent  writer,  referring  to  the  story,  says  :  "  It  is 
just  possible  that  the  grain  of  truth  contained  in  the 


HEATH   AND    HEATHER       277 

tradition  may  be,  that  all  the  northern  nations,  as  the 
Swedes  still  do,  used  the  narcotic  gale  {Myrica  gale\ 
which  grows  among  the  heather,  to  give  bitterness 
and  strength  to  the  barley  beer ;  and  hence  the  belief 
that  the  beer  was  made  chiefly  of  the  heather  itself" 

I  do  not  hold  this.  I  suspect  that  the  ale  was 
metheglin,  made  of  the  honey  extracted  from  the 
heather  by  the  bees.  Metheglin  is  still  made  round 
Dartmoor,  but  it  is  only  good  and  "heady"  when 
many  years  old.  Avoid  that  which  is  younger  than 
three  winters.     When  it  is  older,  drink  sparingly.* 

It  is  quite  certain  that  the  ancient  Irish  brewed  a 
beer,  which  we  can  hardly  think  came  from  barley. 
S.  Bridget  has  left  but  one  poetical  composition 
behind  her,  and  that  begins  : — 

"  I  should  like  a  great  lake  of  ale 
For  the  King  of  kings. 
I  should  like  the  whole  company  of  Heaven 
To  be  drinking  it  eternally  ! " 

The  heath  was  doubtless  largely  used  in  former 
times,  from  the  Prehistoric  Age,  not  only  as  a  thatch 
for  the  huts  and  hovels,  but  as  a  litter  for  the  beds. 
Indeed,  heath  or  heather  is  still  employed  in  the 
Scottish  Highlands  along  with  the  peat  earth  as  a 
substitute  for  mortar  between  the  stones  of  which 
a  cottage  is  built.  And  that  heather  was  employed 
for  bedding  who  can  question?     Leather  is  tanned 

*  Yet  there  is  the  Devonshire  white  ale — the  composition  of  which 
is  a  secret — that  is  still  drunk  in  the  South  Hams,  and  in  one  tavern  in 
Tavistock.  It  is  a  singular,  curdy  liquor,  in  the  manufacture  of  which 
egg  is  employed.     Is  heath  used  also?     Quien  sabe  ? 


278  PRINCETOWN 

even  better  with  heath  than  with  oak-bark,  and  of  it 
a  brilliant  yellow  dye  is  produced. 

But — ah,  me  !  the  heath  and  the  heather ! — it  is 
not  for  the  beer  produced  therefrom,  not  for  the  tan, 
not  for  the  dye,  that  we  love  it.  Wonderful  is  the 
sight  of  the  moorside  flushed  with  pink  when  the 
heather  is  in  bloom — it  is  as  though,  like  a  maiden, 
it  had  suddenly  awoke  to  the  knowledge  that  it  was 
lovely,  and  blushed  with  surprise  and  pleasure  at  the 
discovery. 

But  how  shortlived  is  the  heath  ! 

It  lies  dead — a  warm  chocolate-brown,  mantling 
the  hills  from  October  till  July.  Only  in  the  mid- 
summer does  it  timidly  put  forth  its  leaves — its 
spines  rather — and  then  it  flushes  again  in  Septem- 
ber. It  blooms  for  about  a  fortnight,  perhaps  three 
weeks,  and  then  subsides  into  its  brown  winter  sleep. 
But  what  browns !  what  splendours  of  colour  we  have 
when  the  fern  is  in  its  russet  decay  and  the  heather 
is  in  its  velvet  sleep  ! 

To  him  who  wanders  over  the  moor,  and  looks 
at  the  flowers  at  his  feet,  some  day  comes  the  proud 
felicity  of  lighting  on  the  white  heath — and  that 
found  ensures  happiness.  And  I,  as  I  make  my 
conge,  hand  it  to  my  reader  with  best  wishes  for  his 
enjoyment  of  that  region  I  love  best  in  the  world. 


INDEX 


Abbots'  Way,  210-11. 
Algeria,  36. 
Amusing  scene,  256. 
Ancient  tenements,  24. 
Archerton,  27. 
Archpriests,  275. 
Arrow-heads,  37-8. 
Asphodel,  11. 
Assacombe,  163. 
Aune  Head,  6. 
Avon  River,  210-II. 
Axe  River,  i. 

Bairdown  Man,  273. 

Bath  huts,  46. 

Bat  worthy,  160. 

Becka  Fall,  174. 

Beehive  huts,  213. 

Bee-keeping,  13. 

Believer,  145,  223,  242,  256. 

Belstone,  144-8,  156. 

Bidlake,  106-7. 

Birds  of  the  moor,  251-2. 

Bishop's  Stone,  174. 

Blachford,  217,  219. 

Black  Tor,  270. 

Blowing-houses,  120-I,  148,  200, 

215-16,  270. 
Bog  plants,  11-12. 
Bogs,  2-11,  202. 
Bovey  Heathfield,  15. 


Bowerman's  Nose,  75. 
Brent  Tor,  97,  102-4. 
Bridestowe,  23 ;  church,  138. 
Bridges,  72-3,  242. 
Brimpts,  25,  196. 
Bronescombe's  Loaf,  139-41. 
Bronze  implements,  15. 
Brooke,  Rajah,  229. 
Broom,  Yellow,  12. 
Browne's  House,  164. 
Buckbean,  11. 
Buckland-in-the-Moor,  194. 
Bull-ring,  229. 
Burglary,  263-5. 
Burial  alive,  1 74. 
Burleigh  Wood  Camp,  104-6. 
Burra  Tor,  229. 

Caches,  213,  230. 

Cainnech,  S.,  story  of,  64-5. 

Cairns,  71-2,  loi,  211,  269. 

Caistor  Rock,  160. 

Camps,    72,   82-3,  97-107,    130, 

155,  162,  240. 
Canoe,  15. 

^Castle,  Lydford,  131. 
Causeway,  great  central,  71,  170, 

242. 
Chagford,  157-60. 
Chaw  Gully,  170. 
Childe  the  Hunter,  202-3. 
279 


28o 


INDEX 


Chinese,  33-5,  84. 

Circles,  stone,  57-9,101,  160,  163, 

164,  273. 
Clakeywell  Pool,  231. 
Clerk,  old,  125-6,  158. 
Clitters,  17,  75. 
Coffin-stone,  195. 
Commons,  23. 
Convicts,  262-3,  265-7. 
Cooking-holes,   44-6,    70;    pots, 

46,  70. 
Cookworthy,  William,  237-8. 
Coral  moss,  250-1. 
Cosdon,  149. 
Country  dances,  236. 
Cox  Tor,  269. 
Cranbrook  Castle,  104,  162. 
Cranmere  Pool,  7,  149. 
Cromlech,  55,  57,  162. 
Crosses,  Celtic,  42  ;  on  Dartmoor, 

65-6,159,203,210-12,236,274. 
Cuckoo,  252. 

Culture,  encroachment  of,  26-8. 
Cut  Hill,  243. 

Daddy  longlegs,  254-5. 

Damnonii,  44. 

Dartmoor :  ancient  inhabitants, 
29-51 ;  antiquities,  52-73;  bogs, 
2-10;  camps,  97-107  ;  cradle  of 
rivers,  i ;  forest,  22,  24-5,  271  ; 
granite,  16;  lakes,  15,  16; 
plants,  11-13,  19-21;  Preser- 
vation Society,  27 ;  salubrity  of, 
178-9,  259-60;  tin-streaming, 
108-123;  tors,  7,  14-15.  75. 
et  passim ;  venville  parishes, 
22-3. 

Dart  River,  194-200 ;  East,  241 ; 
West,  224,  256;  cry  of,  235; 
otter-hunting  on,  224-8. 


Dedication    of    Celtic    churches, 

128-9. 
Deer,  223. 
Destruction  of  antiquities,  53-5, 

162,  172,  210,  211,  228. 
Dewerstone,  104,  239-40. 
Dolly  Trebble,  196-7. 
Dolmens,  55-6. 
Dolmen-builders,  36-9. 
Drewsteignton  cromlech,  162. 
Drift,  a  Dartmoor,  25. 
Drizzlecombe,  60,  63,  120,  236. 
Druids,  80-1,  272. 
Duchy,  27. 

Dunnabridge  Pound,  26. 
Dyeing,  249. 

Elford  family,  221, 
Epitaphs,  129-30,  193. 
Erme  Plains,  212;  river,  211. 
Escapes  of  convicts,  265-7. 
Exe  River,  i. 

Fardell,  219. 

Farmhouses,  190. 

Fern  worthy,  163. 

Fice's  Well,  274. 

Flint  finds,  160,  243 ;  tools  and 

weapons,  30,  37,  38,  45,  49. 
Foale's  Arrishes,  176-8. 
Fordd  =  a  road,  273. 
Forest,  22,  24-5,  271. 
Fox-hunting,  223. 
Fox  Tor  Mire,  6. 
Fresh  air,  1 78. 
Funeral  customs,  83-96. 
Fur  Tor  Cut,  7-8. 
Furze,  12-13. 

Gael,  39,  41-2. 
Galford,  105-6. 


INDEX 


281 


Gates,  how  hung,  133. 
Ghosts,  90-1. 
Gidleigh,  162-3. 
Gobbetts,  117,  203-6. 
Gold,  122. 
Granite,  14-16. 
Greenaball,  273. 
Grey  Wethers,  164,  243. 
Grimspound,  165-70. 
Gubbinses,  134-5* 

Harford  church,  214. 
Harter  Tor,  270. 
Hawns  and  Dendles,  217. 
Heather,  276-8  ;  white,  162. 
Hembury  Castle,  104. 
Hey  Tor  Rocks,  176. 
Holne  Chase,  194 ;  church,  193. 
Hound  Tor,  175. 
Huccaby  Bridge,  200. 
Hut  circles,  43-4,  66-71,  148,  168, 
176,  212-13. 

Idol,  wooden,  15. 
Inscribed  stones,  142-3,  173,  219. 
Iron  :  introduction  of,  29  ;  smelt- 
ing, 112;  smelting-houses,  194, 
Ivybridge,  209. 

Jack-o'-Lantern,  243-7. 
Jolly  Lane  Cot,  200-1. 

Kaolin,  237-9. 
Kingset,  231. 
Kingsley,  Charles,  206. 
King's  Oven,  122. 
King's  Teignton,  207. 
Kingston,  Duchess  of,  214-15. 
Kistvaens,  57,  loi,  149,  168,  175, 
268-9. 


"Lady"  Darke,  183-9. 
Lake-bed,  16. 
Lake-head  Hill,  242. 
Langstone,  10,  loi,  160,  274. 
Laurence,  Archbishop,  87. 
Leather  Tor,  235. 
Lichens,  199,  249-50. 
Lime,  deficiency  of,  255. 
Logan  rocks,  75-9,  141,  270. 
Luminous  moss,  19-20. 
Lustleigh  church,  173-4. 
Lych  Way,  255. 
Lydford,  107,  124-32,  134-5- 
Lynx  Tor,  141-2. 

"  Maid  and  Lantern,"  ballad,  248. 

Manaton,  17 1-2. 

Marchant's  Cross,  236. 

Mary  Tavy  church,  137  ;  registers, 

136-7. 
May  Day  customs,  206-7. 
Meavy,  236-7. 
Menhirs,  62-6,  lOi,  149,  236,  268, 

273- 
Merrivale  Bridge,  120,  268-9. 
Mires,  6,  8. 
Mistletoe,  272. 
Mis  Tor,  269,  273. 
Murcens,  102. 

Neolithic  man,  31-51. 
North  Bovey,  172. 
Nun's  Cross,  230-1. 

Oaks,  272. 

Oghams,  219. 

Okebrook,  200. 

Okement  River,    i  ;   West,   136, 

138. 
Otter-hunting,  224-8. 


282 


INDEX 


Otter  River,  i. 
Over  Tor,  269. 

Palaeolithic  man,  30. 

Palgrave,  Mr.,  31. 

Peat  fires,  180;  works,  142. 

Pebbles,  47. 

Peter  Tavy  church,  137-8. 

Petrock,  S.,  12,  127,  129,  214. 

Phoenicians,  144-6. 

Pixy  Cave,  200,  221. 

Plym  River,  239. 

Population,  ancient,  48-9. 

Post  Bridge,  48,  241-58. 

Pottery,  neolithic,  30,  38,  177-8. 

Pounds,  26,  48. 

Prideaux,  John,  214. 

Prince's  Hall,  27. 

Princetown,  27,  259-71, 

Prisoners,  261. 

Prisons,  259-61. 

Quarters  of  the  Forest,  25. 

Radford,  Daniel,  the  late,  132. 
Ravens,  170. 
Ravine,  Lydford,  134. 
Redlake  Mires,  7. 
Redmoor  Mire,  9. 
Reservoir,  Burra  Tor,  221. 
Rock  basins,  78-9,  273. 
Rooks,  254. 
Roos  Tor,  78. 
Roundy  Farm,  231. 
Roundy  Pound,  160. 
Row.     See  Stone  rows. 

Salubrity    of    Dartmoor,     178-9, 

259-60. 
Samoyeds,  58-9. 


Satterleigh,  Sally,  201. 
Scaur  Hill  Circle,  160. 
Screens  in   churches,    163,    171, 

172,  210,  228,  275. 
Shapleigh  Common,  165. 
Sheeps  Tor,  220-2,  228,  236. 
Sherrill,  199-200. 
"  Silly  Doe,"  ballad,  222. 
Slade,  219. 
Snaily  House,  256. 
Sourton  Down,  142. 
South  Brent  church,  210. 
Sparrow-hawk,  254. 
Staple  Tor,  269. 
Steeper  ton  Tor,  146,  148 
Sticklepath,  149-50. 
Stinga  Tor,  141. 
Stonehenge,  31,  40. 
Stone    rows,    60-2,    149,    160-2, 

163,  176,  212,  213,  268-9. 
Sundew,  11. 
Sweet  gale,  11-12. 
Swincombe,  114-20,  203. 

Tailor  lost  on  the  moor,  4-5. 

Taw  Marsh,  146-7. 

Teign  River,  160,  162,  164. 

Throwleigh,  156,  163. 

Tin,  22,  30 ;  streaming,  108-23. 

Tincombe  Lane,  159. 

Tolmens,  79-80,  162,  269. 

Tor  Royal,  271. 

Tors,  17-18. 

Tracklines,  47,  71. 

Trackway,    great     central,     170, 

242. 
Trippers,  217-18,  268. 
Tristis  Rock,  213. 
Two  Bridges,  268. 
Tyrwhitt,   Sir  Thomas,  26,   196, 

259-61,  271. 


INDEX 


283 


Vectis,  no. 

Venville  parishes,  22-3. 
Vitifer,  170. 
Vixen  Tor,  75,  270. 
Voices,  strange,  232-5. 

Walkham  River,  269-70. 
Walkhampton  church,  270. 
Weekes  family,  151-4. 
West  Okement  valley,  155. 
West  Wyke,  151. 
W^hitaburrow,  21 1. 
Whitchurch,  274. 
White  ale,  277. 
Whitmoor  Stone,  149. 
Whit  Tor  Camp,  48,  98-100. 
Whortleberry,  20-1. 


Widdecombe-in-the-Moor,  180-2; 

Fair  ballad,  190-2. 
Williams,  Sir  Thomas,  214. 
Windstrew,  220. 
Wireworm,  254. 
Wistman's  Wood,  271-2. 
Wolfram,  21. 
Wren,  252-3. 

Yar  Tor,  199. 
Yealm  River,  215. 
Yelverton,  220. 
Yes  Tor,  155. 


Zeal  Plains,  210. 
Zeal,  South,  150-1. 


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